The Other Brother
by Emotional0v3r
Summary: There was never nothing more terrifyingly intriguing to happen in the small town of Forks, Washington than when the Cullen family moved into the old Victorian house on Hallow Hill. The Cullens were never just a regular old family.
1. THE NEW KIDS

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

**This is a new story of mines.**

**I didn't plan on writing this story...but an idea came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head...**

**Please read and review**

**Future chapters will be longer...**

**~Emotional0v3r**

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><p>I had lived the entire majority of my painfully-dull life confined within the dreary city of Forks, Washington. And there was never anything more terrifyingly intriguing to happen in my small home town than when the Cullen family moved into that old Victorian house on Hallow Hill.<p>

I could remember that very day just as perfectly as I could remember the letters in own my first and last name, but I only remembered it so clearly because it was the same iconic day that my mother and father told me they were getting divorced.

_And the day that changed my entire life..._

"That sucks Bella." Rosalie said offhandedly, in the kindest tone that she could possibly ever muster. She still didn't sound all that sympathetic though. That was just Rosalie I guess. She wasn't what I'd call a sentimentalist.

"Yeah thanks Rose." I looked down at the food sitting before me and sighed. I wasn't the least bit hungry. In fact, I hadn't had a appetite since late last night. Hunger was the least of my worries and I could not even begin to think of food. There was so much on my mind. I was sure I'd be breaking down in any second now.

"Maybe you would've sounded a lot more sincere if you'd actually taken the time to look at her while you were delivering those comforting words." Jasper said wryly, nudging his twin sister with a reprimanding expression on his face. Rosalie was busy at the moment, staring at the reflection of herself through the little pocket mirror that she kept inside of her purse at all times.

Jasper was right. Maybe her words would have made me feel better had they truly been sincere. Of course I could not blame my friend for her blatant vanity. If I looked anywhere near as magnificent as Rosalie did, I would probably spend the majority of my time drooling over myself too. I did not expect anything less from her.

The Hale Twins were both golden haired and violet eyed. They were equally stunning in their unlawful attractiveness but Jasper, who was very well aware of his good looks, was just a little bit less concerned by them than Rosalie was.

"Oh Bella." Rosalie finally looked at me, presenting me with an apologetic smile that meant a lot in her convoluted language. I allowed myself to actually feel touched for a moment. "I'm sorry that your parents are divorcing."

"Yeah." Jasper nodded his golden head in encouragement. "Going through a divorce is hard. Rosie and I have been in your position before. We know how you feel."

"It gets better." Rosalie said, in a promising sort of tone. I sort of believed her for a moment.

"I hope so."

**~TOB~**

The lunch period passed forward just like it always did. When the bell rang for class, Jasper and Rosalie walked with me to my locker just like they always did. It was our routine.

"Did you hear the news Bella?" Tanya Denali asked me, once I'd entered the biology lab. This school was so small that gossip tended to circulate around these halls pretty quickly. Today I had been pretty occupied in my self-pitying thoughts however. I guess I must have missed the new topic of gossip for today while I was sulking. That was what I get for being so melodramatic.

If wasn't as if I'd lost out on a chance for an earful of vital information though. The rumors here were never really anything worth taking the time to listen to. We all knew that. That was why the stories that got told here tended to be widely exaggerated and pretentious as fuck. Everyone here liked to stretch the truth of matters just a little bit.

I guess we all needed a little excitement every once in a while though. "Have I heard what Tanya?"

I took my seat next to her and began retrieving the materials out of my bag that I needed for this class. Biology was my favorite class out of the seven that I was registered in, and there was only one thing that I absolutely hated about this class. There was one thing that made this fifty minute period entirely dreadful. That was being stuck with Tanya Denali as my lab partner for the semester.

I could tell that she probably spent most of her free time reading fashion magazines for the latest trends and watching 90210 every Tuesday on channel eleven. There wasn't much depth to her character as a whole but then again she _was_ a blond.

_A strawberry blond at that...though I have my doubts about the color being natural. _

"So, you really haven't heard the news yet?" She asked me this as if she were in utter disbelief. Tanya's bright blue gaze darted towards my own, a short giggle escaping her glossed lips at what apparently was my ignorance.

I shook my head, my expression remaining even. She was beginning to irritate me now. I did my best to keep my mouth shut from saying something that might have broken her cheery, little spirit. But only because I was unfamiliar with the news she was referring to and I wanted her to hurry up and kill the suspense.

"The school has just gotten four new students." She said, in a girlish voice that was the definition of flippancy. Her excitement was practically oozing its way out of her pores. "There are three new boys. Two of which are juniors like us and the other is a senior."

"What about the girl?" I inquired with forced curiosity, feigning to be as interested with the uninteresting tale as best as I could. I didn't know why Tanya was so giddy about the news of new students. Sure, we got tired of seeing the same faces everyday, but after a week the new students would just be old news. It wasn't as if their sudden appearance was going to affect our lives. "What grade is she in?"

"I think she is a sophomore." Tanya nodded her head, loose strands of strawberry-blond spirals bounced in front of her face with the same enthusiasm that was inside of her movements. "Yeah, she's definitely a sophomore."

"Well, what's the story on them? One of the parents must have grown up here right?" Nobody just moved to Forks intentionally. Unless they liked wet, green, nature shit. But most people absolutely despised cold and wet things. It was such an unpleasant combination. Those things were unfortunately a guaranteed constant here.

"The father is a doctor. He got a job at the local hospital downtown. The mother is an interior designer and a well renowned wedding planner. I hear that they are throwing a party tonight for people to get to know them."

"The parents are throwing a party?"

"No Bella, the kids are throwing the party." Tanya said, in a very condescending tone. She flashed me a very droll look with the blues of her rounded irises. I guess it was supposed to indicate that she thought I was slow to understanding or something. "Sometimes you ask the dumbest questions."

_What irony..._

I returned back to getting myself situated for class after she'd appeared to run out of information for me. Our teacher was still in the front getting things situated for class. The lesson plan was about to begin and I prayed that today we wouldn't have to work as partners.

I expected to run into one of the new kids by the end of the day. The school was too small not to spot any fresh faces. I had not been expecting to have class with any of them though. The courses that I was registered in were all advanced placement and honors. The spots were pretty much taken.

_That was why their arrival was so unexpected..._

"Ooh ooh Bella! There they are!" Tanya announced from beside me, not so discreetly pointing a manicured finger at the pair of unfamiliar boys who'd just sauntered their way into the classroom.

They both stopped at the front of the room to introduce themselves to Mr. Melina. I wasn't trying very hard to listen to their conversation but I vaguely heard them call themselves Edward and Masen Cullen.

They had to be identical twins I decided, once I'd gotten a better look at them. They both had heads that were set ablaze by a disarray of messy bronzed hair. From their profiles I could also see that they both had the exact same dark-green eyes. They looked extremely identical.

A lot of people loved Mr. Melina so a lot of people had signed up to take his biology class during registration. There were literally only two available seats left open in the entire classroom. Ironically, one of those seats just so happened to be on the other side of me.

"Edward, why don't you sit right here in the front." Mr. Melina instructed lightly, with the easy politeness that he always carried with him. "And Masen why don't you go sit back there by Miss Swan. Bella raise your hand please."

I raised my hand and the one named Masen turned towards me fully. It was only then that I could really see that the two of them didn't actually look the same. Standing beside Edward, Masen looked washed out and dull.

His skin was quite pasty and considerably paler than Edward's smooth, alabaster tone. Masen's complexion was almost anemic looking. His hair wasn't as shiny or anywhere near as healthy-looking as Edward's, his eyes were an ashen much weaker imitation of his twin's startling green ones, and underneath those paled eyes were dark, bruise-like shadows that contrasted greatly with the whiteness of his skin.

The scary part about his imperfect appearance was that he was still as every bit of handsome as his twin brother was despite all of his flaws.

_And that was pretty goddamned handsome if I do say so myself..._

I watched more curiously than nosily, as Edward whispered something urgent and firm into his twin's ear. The two of them shared a brief look in which Masen simply smiled at whatever Edward had told him. An elusive understanding seemed to pass between the pair before they both set off to take their respective seats.

Masen walked at a much slower pace than Edward did. It appeared to take him quite a lot of physical effort to make his body move. I couldn't help but notice the subtle scowl of pain he wore as he advanced towards his seat. Every single step he had to take seemed to be putting him through some kind of pain.

I couldn't tell if anyone else noticed this about the new boy, and I sort of felt embarrassed for being so damn conspicuous with my ogling.

When the bronzed-haired boy finally took the seat beside me, he offered me a weak smile and his hand in the form of a polite greeting. "Hello, I am Masen Cullen."

I was too shocked at first, from the surreal sound of his voice up close, to force myself to think of a proper response. Any normal person would have been quick to say something back. I literally just sat there for a few seconds with a blank mind.

"I'm...I'm uh..Bella." I said this quite awkwardly, and I wasn't so sure how I'd let this boy push me out of my comfort zone so quickly. I usually wasn't so socially awkward when talking to boys. But then again, I'd never encountered a boy as attractive as Masen Cullen before. I absolutely hated first impressions. No matter what you did later on there was absolutely nothing you could do to change them.

To my surprise, Masen only seemed to be amused. His grin expanded into a full-blown smile that allowed me to see how perfectly white and aligned his teeth were. I tried to find a shortcoming somewhere in his appearance. Besides the fact that he looked a little sick, I could find none. "Short for Isabella I presume?"

"Uh, yeah." I nodded my head a little too many times. There was a little too much enthusiasm in my actions as well. I did not want Masen to think that I was some naive fan-girl. I was pretty sure that he'd encountered enough of those already.

"Well, I am very pleased to have met you Isabella Swan." His formality was intriguing to say the least. His mother must have put him in etiquette classes when he was a little kid. "I have a feeling that this move is going to turn out infinitely better than the others."

"Where did you come from?" I thought that maybe I could vaguely detect an English accent buried beneath the soft tone of his voice. His speech mannerisms were also very proper. I would have not been surprised if he'd lived in another country prior to coming here.

"My family and I just made our move from Chicago. My father Carlisle was offered a job position as head of the surgical wing at the hospital downtown. My mother thought it would be safer for us to live in a little, old town like this than in a big city."

I was surprised that a proper boy like himself had lived in such a rowdy city.

"Oh yes." I had to agree with his mother. Lately, there had been an ominous string of reoccurring murders happening in Chicago. All of the victims had been killed the same way.

Bodies unidentifiable...

Bones cleaned fresh of flesh and meat...

It was almost as if an animal had mauled all of those poor people into nothing...

"My parents would have moved us out of a city like that too. My dad is chief of Fork's police here and he's a little over-protective."

"That's completely understandable." Masen said, a dark glint of something indistinguishable flashed across his eyes as he looked at me. "Wouldn't want a pretty thing like you getting hurt out there now would we?"

"My mom and dad would pretty much lose their minds if something were to ever happen to me. I'm the only child. You're really lucky to have three siblings that are all around the same age as you. I bet you're all best friends."

"Yes." Masen said, and if I was not mistaken the tone of his voice had taken upon a bitter edge to it. "So very lucky. I don't know what I would possibly do without them."

The rest of the class went on that way, with Masen and I rambling back and forth whilst we finished the worksheet that we'd been handed after Mr. Melina finished his biology lesson for the day.

Tanya was at my side ear hustling for anything that she could potentially turn into gossip. She was listening to our conversation for practically the whole class period. I had a feeling that Masen knew that she was listening too. At one point he even stopped our conversation in mid-sentence to introduce himself to her and formally invite her to the party that his sister was supposed to be throwing tonight.

The look on her face was priceless. She had almost as hard of a time remembering her name as I did. Masen Cullen had to be the prettiest boy here since Jasper Hale and that was saying something.

**~TOB!~**

"Oh-my-god Bella!" Rosalie screeched excitedly, as we ambled through the parking lot to our cars. After biology the rest of my day seemed to go by unusually fast. It was a wonder that it was already time to go home. "You already saw a Cullen and not just saw but you actually had a conversation with one too? I didn't even hear about them until last period."

"I talked to that Emmett dude." Jasper said from the other side of Rosalie. His voice was carefree and a little indifferent. He was nowhere near as excited about the appearance of these new kids as everyone else. Rosalie was vain because all she cared about was her appearance but Jasper Hale was vain because the only thing that his mind revolved around was himself. "He's really cool too. He's thinking about joining the football team. I told him that coach would love to see him on our team. He looks like a fucking tackling machine." As he talked, Jasper's curly blond hair fell into his blue eyes in a way that I used to take the time to admire until I saw the same thing happen to Masen.

_Jasper was hot and he always would be...but Masen Cullen was just fucking beautiful._

"Which one did you talk to Bella?" Rosalie inquired, as we posted against her car. She never really stuck around after school. She always claimed to have more better things to do with her time than lingering in the school parking lot for excitement. I guess she wanted to stick around today just to see if we could spot the Cullens before we left for home.

"I talked to the one named Masen."

"Did you get anything juicy out of him?"

I gave Rosalie a very droll look. She sure had a way with words didn't she? "Really Rosalie? Are we in eight grade again or something?"

"Oh, shut up Bella!" Rosalie shoved me playfully. Her violet eyes lit up with glee but even she wasn't someone I could admire anymore. Masen and Edward Cullen had surely surpassed the Hale Twins' in terms of the beauty scale. "Seriously though, did you find anything out about him?"

I hitched my shoulders in a casual shrug. "He's seventeen, has a twin, moved from Chicago, and apparently his whole family loves the color black."

"What? Why would you say that?" Rosalie's perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose with the content of her question. The curiosity that was evident in her voice was also reflected onto the planes of her facial expression.

I pointed behind her to where I'd spotted all of the Cullens emerging from out of the building. I hadn't noticed before that Edward and Masen were wearing the same exact thing: black skinny jeans, black converse, and long-sleeved thermo shirts.

The boy who must have been Emmett Cullen was also handsome in that unnaturally beautiful Cullen way. He had short curly brown hair and dimples that reminded me of a little child. Jasper hadn't been exaggerating when he said coach would love him on the team. Emmett Cullen was all conspicuous muscles. He was wearing black jeans that were loose around his waist and baggy onward down, he had on what looked like a pair of black Nikes, and a black hollister hoodie.

The girl who could only be Alice Cullen was quite stunning as well. She was a petite little thing with short, inky-black hair. She reminded me of a dark pixie with her black tu-tu and fishnet stockings. She was possibly the only person bold enough to pull an outfit like that off in a place like this. They all looked like they were super models. They all looked liked they'd just stepped off of the runway.

From where I was standing, I could vaguely see that Edward and Alice were sort of holding Masen up. He looked much sicker than he had appeared when I'd seen him in class earlier. I couldn't quite stop myself from wondering what was wrong with him even though I knew that it was none of my business.

"He doesn't look too good." Rosalie commented, with no genuine concern in her voice whatsoever. It was the times like this when I just wanted to shake my head at her in a very slow and very wry way. "Is it totally wrong that I still want to bone him?"

Jasper made a disgusted noise from beside her. "Stop being so repulsively shallow Rosie."

"Oh." Rosalie shook her head to apparently shake away all of her shallow thoughts, a small apologetic smile lifted the corners of her lips. "Sorry."

I guess she really needed Jasper. He was the only person who did not let Rosalie intimidate him. He never sugar coated things. Jasper was the only person who could bring her back down to earth whenever she floated away to Rosalie land.

_And Rosalie floated away to Rosalie land very often..._

We continued to watch the peculiar new kids like everyone else that was left in this parking lot. I only realized that they were coming directly towards us when I noticed a silver Volvo parked beside Rosalie's BMW.

I never thought that anyone would join Rosalie on the "flashy cars only" side of the parkinglot but apparently I was wrong.

They all walked at a pace that would accommodate Masen's strength. It also kind of seemed like slow motion in my head. When they did finally get to the car, Masen saw me and offered me another one of his small smiles. He opened his mouth to say something to me but instead of words coming out he broke into a coughing fit. His family didn't regard this as anything odd. In fact, they continued on as if their brother wasn't potentially coughing to death in front of their eyes.

"Hey Jasper." I heard Emmett say, as he went over to Jasper to talk. "What are you doing after school man?"

"Nothing." Rosalie answered quickly, even though the question hadn't been directed towards her. Emmett gave her a peculiar look and glanced at Jasper in confusion.

"That's my sister Rosalie." Jasper explained with a chuckle. I didn't understand how Emmett wouldn't have immediately made the connection. They were just as identical as Masen and Edward were. "Sorry. She's a little eccentric."

"And pretty." Emmett said, with the deliberate use of his _"Cullen"_ charm. Rosalie ate his compliment right the fuck up. Everyone with working eyes knew that Rosalie Hale was beautiful. It wasn't even something people had to mention because. It was just a waste of time mentioning the obvious. But of course Rosalie thrived off of the admiration she received so often from her attractiveness. It fueled her ego.

Though, it was easy to see that people who wasted their time complimenting her were obviously trying to butter her up.

"Dude, please do not encourage her. I already had to get our mom to remove all of the mirrors in our house. Rosalie would totally starve just to stare at herself all day."

Emmett chuckled again, "So you aren't busy tonight?"

"Nope." Jasper looked at me curiously as if to ask if we'd made plans that he'd forgotten about. I shook my head. He looked back at Emmett with a head shake of his own. "We're free. Why? What's up?"

"We're throwing a party." Alice said, as she skipped forward. She held out her hand. "I'm Mary-Alice Brandon Cullen. You can just call me Alice though. I'd be really pleased if you guys decided to attend."

Jasper smiled down at her. It wasn't just his regular smile either. It was his _"I can charm your pants off"_ smile.

"Sure thing. What time does it start?" I wanted to comment on his hypocrisy for telling Rosalie not to be so shallow. As soon as his violet eyes laid upon Alice Cullen I could see that he wanted her...and not for pure reasons either. Jasper Hale had a reputation just like everyone else.

"Since it's a school night it's starting at eight and ending at eleven. We just want to introduce ourselves to our classmates. It was our parent's idea."

"No, it wasn't." Edward said wryly. My jaw almost hit the fucking ground once the sound registered inside of my ears. His voice was the same exact octave as Masen's. It was undeniably rich and smooth except his was just a little bit nicer to listen too. "You proposed the idea to mom and she proposed it to dad...and then we had no choice but to invite a bunch of nosy strangers into our home."

"Oh Edward." Alice smacked his arm and flashed him a stealthy warning look that I did not miss. He rolled his green eyes at her. "Everyone loves parties."

"Yeah." Masen finally said, after he'd gained the breath he needed to pull himself together. His voice was just a little bit hoarse after all of that coughing. "We'll be looking forward for you guys to show up. You're coming too right Bella?"

Emmett, Edward, and Alice all looked at Masen. They were all wearing the same apprehensive looks. As if his interest in me was an especially bad thing.

"Sure...I'll be there." I smiled and nodded my head. I guess my first impression hadn't been all that bad. My politeness must have paid off. Masen seemed to have taken a liking to me. "Thank you for inviting us."

"No problem." Alice chirped, going back to her chipper self in a matter of seconds. She looked at Masen and flashed him the same warning look that she'd showed to Edward, but this time her look meant something entirely different.

Masen looked back at her and a small smirk turned up on the corners of his lips. "Well we should be going." He said. "It's chilly out here. I don't want to get any sicker than I already am."

I knew he was sick. That had to be the reason for his ashen appearance. It was probably just a case of the common cold. That happened a lot around here where everything was wet and freezing.

"Okay." Rosalie smiled at them all and nodded her head. "See you later then."

"Yes." Masen nodded his head too. Though, he was looking directly at me. His eyes were peircing and intense. I could literally feel the heat under his gaze. "We cannot wait."

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading chapter one...<strong>

**hoped you enjoyed it... :)**

**Read and review**


	2. THE TASTE

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

**Thank you for all of the support. I got a lot of story alerts that put a big smile on my face.**

**Please continue to read read and review**

**~Emotional0v3r**

**WARNING: THIS STORY IS RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, THEMES, AND LEMONS...**

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><p>There was quite possibly nothing that Rosalie Hale loved more than getting ready for parties. Almost every teenage girl that I knew loved getting dressed with their closest girlfriends, but then again they all didn't quite have the same dilemma as I did.<p>

If you were just ordinary, brown-haired Bella you'd hate getting ready with someone as stunning as Rosalie too.

"Don't you think that dress is just a little too short Rosalie?" Jasper asked, though his question was fairly rhetorical because I think we all knew that Rosalie's dress was way more than just a little too short.

From the expression on Jasper's face I could definitely tell that he did not approve of his sister's _"barely there"_ halter dress. I didn't approve of it either but that was just because she looked so good in it and I knew I could never pull it off myself.

"Oh, shut up Jasper." Rosalie actually took the time to rip her eyes away from the mirror on the back of my closet door to roll her violet eyes at him. She was aiming to make a good impression tonight and with a dress like that I was fairly positive that she'd do just that. "You have no style."

Actually, Jasper looked pretty darn edible if I do say so myself.

He had on some dark-washed, straight legged jeans. I was pretty sure that they were some expensive as fuck designer jeans. His shirt was a red and black polo, his shoe choice of tonight were a fresh pair of Adidas corresponding to the color of his shirt, and he topped it off with a crisp leather jacket that probably costed more than everything I had on combined.

Jasper found no need in wasting his breath to defend himself. He knew he looked good and that was all that mattered to him. He was severely over-confident in every single thing that he did, and that was what made him so goddamned appealing to us single ladies.

"Why can't you be more like Bella?" That right there was probably the biggest insult anyone could have ever thrown at a person like Rosalie. I was in no way near attractive enough to be compared to someone as pretty as her.

Both of us looked at Jasper incredulously. Rosalie was my friend so she would not say anything that might make me feel bad, but I knew that she didn't want to be like me. I was probably one of the last people that she wanted to be like.

"More like Bella?" Rosalie asked wryly. Her voice was unintentionally scornful but that was just because Jasper had offended her. "Why should I want to be more like Bella?"

"You're much too conspicuous with your sex appeal Rosalie. Revealing clothes leave men with nothing to imagine. We get disinterested when girls reveal all of their goods so easily. We'd look at a girl like you first but in the end we would be more interested in someone like Bella..." He pointed a finger towards me and nodded with an appreciation that confused the shit out of me. Rosalie looked at me now too, a little unsure of herself after Jasper's words. "Bella is more subtle with her sexiness. She has on a simple pair skinny jeans and a nice top that leaves a portion of her back out. When men see just a little bit of skin it makes us wonder how the rest of a girl's body would look. It makes us want to devote our time in pursuing them."

Rosalie turned back towards the mirror to look at herself again. She turned around and around until she finally stopped and huffed at her reflection.

"I think you're right Jazz." Rosalie nodded her head once. "I need to change. Just give me twenty minutes and we'll be ready to roll."

Jasper looked at me and rolled his violet eyes. "You do know that twenty minutes really means an hour right?"

"Jasper I've known you and Rosalie for most of my whole life." Of course I knew. I understood Rosalie's language almost as well as I understood English.

We didn't actually leave for the Cullen's house until a little after nine. The house that the Cullen's had moved into was not significantly far from where Jasper and Rosalie lived. We decided to walk there just in case their driveway was crowded by all of our other classmates who were going to be there.

Rosalie loved her flashy, little BMW and she'd probably kill someone if they'd accidentally dented it. She didn't want to take any chances in someone harming her baby and that was why we had to take a ten minute walk in the cold nighttime weather.

_We did manage to have a good conversation during the walk though..._

"I wonder why they chose to move on Hallow Hill." I said idly. I looked at Rosalie and Jasper and they both lifted their shoulders in casual shrugs.

"Obviously they're into all of that goth shit." Rosalie commented lightly. She flipped her hair and shuddered. I guess a coat would have taken away from the meaning of her outfit. "No normal people would move into a manor like that. It's probably haunted with evil spirits."

"And yet you're the one who wanted to go to the party so badly."

"Shut up." Rosalie shot her twin brother a very playful glare. That was one of the things that I loved about Rosalie and Jasper. They were each other's best friends. I didn't have a sibling to share that kind of relationship with. "You want to go just as badly as I do. You totally want to screw Alice's brains out."

"No." Jasper said with a small smile. It wasn't all that convincing though. "I just want to get to know her."

"And by getting to know her you mean exchanging bodily fluids?" Rosalie quirked her smile just to annoy him. We all knew Jasper's intentions. He wasn't the southern gentlemen that everyone thought he was at first glance. He was just as manipulating and full of bullshit as any other teenage boy.

"Hallow Hill has a brutal history." I said quietly. The night was dark around us. The only thing that I could hear was our foot steps and breathing. "Don't all real estate agents have to tell home buyers about the history of a house?"

"Yeah." Jasper said. Everybody in Forks knew about Hallow Hill and everyone who didn't know should know. "Whoever sold the house to them probably didn't tell them the whole story though."

"Or maybe the story is just total bullshit." Rosalie said dismissively, knitting her perfect eyebrows together. "There is nothing wrong with the house besides the fact that it's been sitting on that hill for centuries. Stop being so damn gullible all of the time."

I would have snapped something back at Rosalie just because she'd been the reason we had to walk in the cold, but we were nearing closer to the party now. I knew this because I could hear music playing and I could also see the enormous manor sitting on the highest hill I'd ever seen.

The manor was on a cul-de-sac street. It was the house right in the center of the road. The houses on its opposite sides were spaced out and protected against it by large fences.

Up on the hill, sat an ominously, rain-rotted house; covered in a mass of tangled vines and moss. Luminous willow trees scattered across the lawn sending dark shadows floating around the place. At the bottom of the hill there was a black steel gate with gargoyles resting on either sides.

We all stopped and looked at each other as we reached the entrance gates. We could see people standing in the yard and on the old wooden porch. The music inside seemed to be oozing throughout the walls and making the house vibrate. I recognized the song as "_Sympathy for The Devil"_ by The Rolling Stones and I wondered briefly why they were playing such out dated music.

"If they weren't so ridiculously hot I'd be turning back around...right about now."

I scoffed at my friend lightly. "If the Hallow Hill stories are just total bullshit lies why are you suddenly so reluctant to go in there Rosalie?"

"I'm not." She said, much too quickly to actually be believable. She looked at me with a very certain expression and flashed me a very Rosalie-like smile.

Jasper shook his head and I could see that he was a little spooked. The expression on his face gave it all away but then again he wasn't trying to hide it like Rosalie was. "This house makes me want to believe in every ghost story I've ever heard."

I gave him a small smile before pushing open the gate and gesturing for them to follow me in.

The fucking hill was treacherous to climb in stilettos. Jasper had to hold onto both of our arms to prevent us from sliding or falling down and breaking a heel.

At one point, I was so pissed that there was no fucking elevator to help assist us up the steep hill that I felt the need to glare at the stupid house. When I'd looked up I could of sworn I saw a boy looking out of the third story window.

"Hey." I said quickly. I tapped Jasper's shoulder and pointed up. "Look up there. Look at that boy."

Jasper's eyes lifted quickly to see what I was talking about. It was a little funny how on edge he was. "Stop being a bitch Bella. You can't scare us with that shit."

"What?" I looked back up at the window to see that there was no boy or any sign that there had ever been a boy there.

"Your silly mind must be playing tricks on you Bella." Rosalie said wryly as we approached the porch stairs.

The bottom step squeaked as we applied pressure to it with our feet. I let out a long sigh as I was relived that the old structure didn't swallow us up completely once contact was made. We took another step, then another, and another, until finally, we were at the front door. The door was slightly off color from the rest of the house. It loomed over us like a giant...a dingy gray instead of a colonial white.

Pushing open the door, we were greeted with the familiar aroma of booze, sweat, sex, and marijuana. The house was dim-lit but appreciating the interior was not impossible. Even in the dark I could tell that the inside of this house was exquisite. Upon entering the foyer, I noticed an impressive double staircase spiraling up to the second floor. Tons of intoxicated teenagers were talking and gyrating to the music on the landing.

We slowly made our way through the group of people that carelessly crowded the foyer and hallway. We meandered forward into the large living room where the furniture had been pushed against the wall to make room for dancing. I noticed Alice and Emmett almost immediately because Alice looked absolutely gorgeous in her ruffled, black party-dress and Emmett was just too burly to miss.

Alice smiled widely and beckoned us over when they'd spotted us. I turned my head slyly to look at Jasper. I could see the way that he was practically mind-fucking Alice in her "_barely there"_ attire and I wanted to call him out on his unlawful hypocrisy once again. How could he chastise Rosalie for being revealing when he clearly responded to Alice so easily because of her revealing clothes?

"Hello again." She said nicely. Her voice was a pleasant soprano tone. She looked us all over and smiled. "You guys look nice. I almost thought you weren't going to make it."

"Oh, we just got a little delayed." I assured her kindly and I also made sure to send a very pointed look in Rosalie's direction.

Rosalie didn't even respond by giving me her signature eye roll though. She was much too busy undressing Mr. Emmett Cullen with those pretty violet orbs of hers.

Emmett gave me a small smirk. "Masen would have been disappointed. He really counted on you coming."

"Where is Masen anyway?" I said glancing around curiously. I couldn't see him and I knew I would definitely be able to notice him even if he was in a crowd. He was one of those people that just wouldn't blend in with anyone else.

"He might be upstairs." Alice said in a tight voice. There was a bit of apprehension in her tone if I was not mistaken.

"If Masen is up there then Edward is too. You'll never find those two far away from each other." Emmett smiled at me easily and thoroughly ignored the way Alice was looking at him. "His room is on the third floor. Why don't you go up there and see if you can find him?"

"Uh...yeah." I paused, remembering the boy I'd seen staring out of the window on our way up the hill. I knew I wasn't imagining things. "Sure...I'll be upstairs."

Jasper and Rosalie nodded which implied that they'd stopped thinking about fucking Emmett and Alice long enough to actually acknowledge that I'd spoken.

"There's another staircase through the kitchen." Emmett said, I didn't miss the sly way that Alice nudged him. "So you don't have to go all the way back through that horde of people."

I followed Emmett's advice and went through the kitchen. The back of the house was no more vacant than any other part of the house. It was crowded just the same, but the staircase wasn't being occupied with unstable teenagers. As I trudged up the stairs I ran my fingers along the peeling wall paper and hummed quietly to myself. Towards the top of the staircase I thought that I could maybe hear the vague sound of piano playing.

The third floor of the house was much more empty and maybe that was because the smell of decaying mildew was horribly poisonous in the air. It was common for old houses to reek but it wasn't as if they couldn't open a damn window or something. The hallway that I found myself walking through was long and narrow with tons of closed doors on either sides. I had no indication of which door belonged to Masen and I did not want to go barging into every single room like an idiot.

One door in particular had me drawn in. It was at the end of the darkened hallway and was slightly ajar. I was certain that I'd heard music coming from within the room.

I walked slowly to the door and peered inside of the room through the crack. I was shocked that the lights were out. The only source that I could use to see was the pale light that the moon provided. The walls of the room were made out of complete glass.

All of the furniture had yet to be uncovered. Dingy, white sheets laid on top of everything except for an antique baby grand piano and the piano bench. From where I stood I could see the back of the boy that was sitting at the piano.

_Masen..._

I pushed the door open enough for me to slip through but my entrance did not disrupt his phenomenal playing. In fact, he didn't seem to have noticed me come into the room at all.

"Masen?" I called softly. A rush of chilling air seemed to swarm around me. I may have been imagining things but the tone of music had completely transitioned upon my arrival. Soft and mellow tunes changed into something uninviting and dark. The music got louder and bolder.

_The song was something of a dark lullaby..._

He still did not turn around to look at me as I approached the bench. His silence was not so much disturbing as his refusal to notice me. I took a seat beside him, facing the door instead of the piano and touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I disrupted you. Emmett said that I should come say hi to you. He said that you were expecting me."

Masen flinched away from my touch with what could only be described as aversion. "Emmett is an idiot."

I knew from the pitch-perfect sound of his voice that this was not Masen. Masen had a rich tone that was pleasant and warm to listen to, but Edward's voice was so damn mellifluous that I'd distinguished it from Masen's the second I'd heard him speak.

"I'm not Masen." He said lowly. His voice was dark and with purpose. I was a little more than startled by his tone. "And you should be grateful of that fact."

"What?...What are you talking about?"

His brutal song came to an abrupt end as he ripped his concentrated eyes away from the piano keys to look at me. I gasped lightly when I took in the sight of his eyes. In the dark they looked abysmally black.

"If you were smart..." He seethed quietly. He seemed to be leaning closer and closer to me by the second. "You would stay away from him."

"Why? Is he some kind of womanizer or something? You think he's going to break my fragile little heart?" How bad could one teenage boy be? How fragile did everyone think I was?

Edward made a scoffing noise at my blatant attempt of sarcasm. "If you fall into his trap...you're going to be wishing that he only was a womanizer with the intentions of breaking your heart."

"You say this as if he has other intentions for me."

"Bella." He said my name in a voice that would make any girl swoon. My stupid breath caught at the sound of it. "One thing that you deserve to know about Masen is that he always has intentions. You should walk away from this house right now...before he becomes really interested in you."

"How nice." Said a different, but almost equally attractive voice. "You decided to make it. I'm so pleased Bella."

I looked at Edward who was now looking at Masen in the doorway...who was looking at me. When I shifted my gaze to take in Masen I noted that somehow he looked different. He'd changed clothes of course. He had on gray skinny jeans and a black _Rolling Stones_ t-shirt, but his clothes was not the initial difference that I'd noticed about him.

He looked healthier than before somehow. He was still distinguishable from Edward. His eyes had the same purple shadows underneath them but they seemed to have faded a little, his hair looked more lively, and his skin had just a little more luster to it.

"I thought you were Edward when I came up and heard music playing."

"Oh." Masen chuckled lightly. The sound of his laughter bounced off of the glass walls within the room and resonated inside of my ears. "Edward is the one that's interested in music not me."

Edward turned back to look at the piano. He looked down at the dusty keys with a slight frown on his face. I tried to take his words into consideration, but I couldn't quite stop myself from being attracted to the boy standing in the doorway. I couldn't make myself fear him. Not when he was standing there smiling at me so genuinely.

"What are you interested in then Masen?"

A small smile jumped onto the corners of his lips. His eyes flashed with delight. "Why don't you come with me? I can show you."

I knew what this meant. I had made out with enough boys at parties to know what he was getting at. I just hoped he wouldn't be one of those douche-bags that couldn't take no for an answer when I was ready to stop. I wasn't going to lose my virginity tonight but I would damn sure pucker up for a heated make-out session.

As I stood, a warm hand wrapped around my wrist. My first instinct was to jerk out of its grasp but I realized that it was only Edward. I looked down at him dubiously as he pulled me back down to the sitting position I'd been in before Masen had showed up.

"Remember what I told you." He whispered threateningly. His voice was so quiet now that I knew Masen couldn't have possibly heard what he'd said, but when he released my arm I turned just in time to see Masen shaking his head at his twin.

"Come on Bella. We should let Edward get back to his masterpiece. I'm very pleased with it. He hasn't played this much since the last time we moved."

I obliged, sending Edward one last look. He sighed as if he'd been defeated somehow and buried his face inside of his hands.

"I thought you and Edward were close." I said as we walked down the narrow corridor.

Masen shot me a calm sideways glance. His dark eyes were watchful though as he considered what I'd just said. "Why would you assume that we aren't?"

"I don't know." I hitched my shoulders to shrug. I didn't want to tell him about the things that Edward had said about him just before he arrived. "He didn't seem too thrilled to see you."

"We have our days." Masen explained patiently. He smiled at me. That was understandable. "But most of time we're closer than any conjoined twins will ever be. You'll never find him too far away from me."

"Emmett told me something similar. Are you close with him as well?"

"Not as close to him as I am Alice. Sometimes I'm even closer to Alice than I am to Edward. Our family has always stuck together."

We stopped outside of a room that I could only confirm was his bedroom. It was in the middle of the hall on the left side. When he pushed the large, wooden door open my assumptions were thoroughly proved.

His bedroom was old like every other part of the house. There was a large king sized bed in the center of the room, a bed stand with a lamp and an alarm clock beside it, there was a dresser against the far wall, an overflowing book case along the other far wall, a rickety wooden desk with a laptop by the wall next to the door, and two other doors that I concluded to be the closet and the attached bathroom.

His room was standard by every means except for the fact that the walls were painted black.

I looked around appreciatively before kicking off my heels and going to sit on the edge of the bed. I was pleased that the mattress was soft. When I looked at him, he smiled at me curiously and arched an eyebrow as if to ask what I was doing.

"You said you were going to show me what you were interested in right?" I could feel a small confusion swarming throughout me.

"You misunderstand." He said, but not as an apology. "I wanted to show you my paintings."

I turned to look at what he was referring to, realizing that I'd failed to notice the large easel in the corner when we'd entered the room. "Don't you want me?"

Why else had he been so nice? Why else had he invited me here? Didn't all guys really only want one thing? Wasn't it clear that I was willing to give that thing to him?

I was completely and utterly confused and a little embarrassed to say the least. I'd never had to ask a guy if they wanted me before. Usually their intentions were always clear.

Masen cocked his head to the side slightly, I couldn't be entirely sure but I thought I saw a little bit of longing flash inside of his eyes before he closed them tightly.

He took in a small breath and smiled lightly. The look on his face was just a little bit of evidence that he was restraining himself somehow. "You misunderstand again." He said this surely. There was an apology on his face now as he could see that we were getting off to a bad start. "You are a very attractive girl Isabella but I don't want to take advantage of you."

"It's not taking advantage if I'm offering it. We're at a party. We're supposed to be having fun. We're supposed to be letting loose."

"Letting loose?" He repeated wondrously, he'd managed to make the words sound a lot more sexy dripping from his lips though. "Is that what you want Isabella? I thought you wanted to see what I was interested in?"

"You can show me that later." I beckoned to him, curling my finger and bringing my bottom lip between my teeth with purpose. It was the best way that I knew how to be seductive and it must have worked because Masen didn't need to be told twice.

He slowly approached the bed, his eyes darkening with lust with each step he took. I scooted backwards until I was against the pillows lining the head board.

He crawled onto the bed, between my legs that were already bent and spread for him. He hovered over me and I couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate how beautiful he was. I raised a trembling hand to his face and ran it along the smooth skin of his cheek.

His dark green eyes closed and he leaned into my touch for a moment. His head turned slightly, just inward enough so that his nose was pressed against my wrist...right where my pulse was beating erratically.

His tongue darted out very slowly, running it across the length of my vein at such a sweet, luscious pace. I felt his body shudder a little, almost as if he could taste the blood under my skin. When his eyes reopened there were no more traces of green left in his irises.

He looked almost animalistic when he buried his face into my neck and inhaled my scent. I could feel his cool breath against my throat as he brought his hips down to mines. His want was very evident through the fabric of his jeans and it felt so good against me. I couldn't stop my eyes from widening at the pleasurable tingles his maneuver brought me.

My heart rate was increasing steadily, pounding almost to the point that I was afraid I might have a heart attack. I'd never been quite so anxious and turned on in my life.

Masen's teeth scraped just slightly against the skin on my throat and he groaned softly. "Is this what you want?" He breathed quietly. He thrust himself against me again and I pretty much turned into goo. "You're so wet Isabella...I can smell your arousal."

I couldn't smell anything but maybe that was because I wasn't paying very much attention to my sense of smell at the moment. I could barely pay attention to keeping my breathing regulated, not when there were teeth on my neck and a dick between my legs.

"Fucking kiss me." I said, my voice nothing but breathlessness. I tangled my fingers into the soft hair in the back of his head and pulled his head back so that I could see his face.

His expression was clouded, darkened. There was but only one emotion on his face: Lust. I couldn't find any words to describe how I attracted I was to him. "Now would be a good time to kiss me Masen."

His mouth crashed into mines without another word. I was shocked at how cool his lips were. His mouth was aggressive against mines. He was so cold touching me and yet even the slightest of his strokes could ignite my entire body with flames. His tongue pushed between my lips with a domination that had me surrendering everything I had to him, he didn't need my permission. He knew that I'd let him in there anyway.

I moaned into his mouth from the sensation of his tongue wrapping around mines, sucking and pulling. It was wet...cool...hot. There was no more restraint in his demeanor. He'd dropped all of his previous pretenses of being careful. Masen was rough; almost forceful, and it was a fucking shame that no one had ever kissed me like that before.

"You're a virgin." He said breathlessly, his eyes black and half lidded. His expression was consumed with a hunger of some kind, though I couldn't be entirely sure that it was the same hunger as mine. He wasn't asking this as a question. He was telling me.

_As if I wasn't already painfully aware..._

"How did you know? Am I doing something wrong?" I hadn't had a lot of worth while sexual encounters. My experience was minimal. I knew that I was nowhere near as advanced in this particular area as Masen was. I couldn't quite find it in myself to be self-conscious at the moment though.

My entire body was coiled and tightened, and waiting to be released somehow. The fact that he'd stopped touching me was making my chest heave. I'd never wanted something quite so much in my life and I wasn't even sure of what I really wanted at the moment.

_Was I actually considering letting this boy take my virginity?_

"No...you're doing everything absolutely right." His voice was loaded with sex, want, and need. The sound was husky and primal. It was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard and an unhinged current of excitement ran throughout me from knowing that I could elicit this sound from out of him. "I can just smell how deliciously pure you are."

I didn't really know what he'd meant by that. I guess it was one of those things that people said in the heat of the moment. I didn't want to waste our time talking though. I wanted to feel his mouth on mines again.

"Kiss me."

Masen leaned away from me just a little, the smile he showed me was one of mischief and challenge. "I am." His voice was sure and smug. "I'm going to kiss you here."

He ran his fingers down my body until he stopped at the place that needed his attention the most, and that did just about give me a heart attack. I'd never had this happen to me before. I damn sure wasn't about to turn this opportunity down.

"Has anyone ever tasted you down there before Bella?" His voice was dripping with sex, facial expression a montage of dark things. He was so compelling and peculiar. There was something about him that was off. I didn't know what it was. But it gave me an eerie vibe every time I pondered upon it.

I shook my head, lifting my arms so that he could take my shirt off. He tossed it somewhere on the floor and reached behind my back to un-clasp my bra. He did this effortlessly and with one hand. He was so confident in himself and his abilities. He knew exactly what he was capable of doing. I felt sorry for the girls back in Chicago that he'd blessed with his expertise. They were missing out.

"Do you want to feel my mouth on your pussy Bella?" I could hear the arrogance inside of his hankering tone. He knew exactly what to say and he knew exactly the way to say it. He knew that I wasn't going to say no to that. How the fuck could I refuse something like that?

"Oh God Masen..." My eyes snapped shut, my body tingled almost to the point where it ached. I needed him, that was all I knew. I needed something from him and I'd willingly take whatever he was willing to give me. No other boy had ever had this intense of an effect on me.

"God?" He snorted at the word in scorn and lowered his lips to kiss the skin between my breasts. His lips started there on that spot, hands moving down the sides of my stomach. Leaving a trail of hot-coldness in their path. I arched my back into his touch. It was like electricity on my skin.

I could feel every part of him and it all felt so good and firm against me...

His lips lingered around the swells of breast, blowing his cool breath over my nipples. Hardening them. He flicked his tongue across them on his trail of kisses down to my stomach. My body shuddered with desire, with want...I needed him to release some of the tension and soon.

His mouth opened, to where his kisses became wet and rough as he moved lower down my body. His tongue slid across the width of my belly button, sending tingles rippling up my spine. I arched into him again as he continued on his trip down my body. He slid off of the bed, perching on his knees at the end. His cool hands reached forward to wrap their way around my ankles, gently pulling me forward until my jean covered sex was in perfect alignment with his stunning face.

My skinny jeans were tight but it didn't take him much effort getting them off of me. Eventually I was naked before a fully clothed Masen and my clothes were in a pile on his dusty wooden floor.

He grabbed a hold of my ankles again but this time he maneuvered them so that my legs were spread over his shoulders. He leaned himself forward, taking a long inhale on what was between my legs. I could feel myself pulsating with the force of my yearning. My breathing was coming quickly, the room around me spinning wildly. I could only whimper and plead for him to continue on...to get to the point.

"You're so incredibly pure." He murmured quietly, dark eyes flashing up to mine. "I am going to taint you Isabella."

I didn't have time to ponder this. I felt the chilling tip of his tongue flickering against my clit and I started to see bright red stars.

His face buried between my legs and for a moment his tongue got lost in my skin. My teeth developed a mind of their own, sinking into my bottom lip and withholding my urge to scream Masen's name.

"Let me hear you." He whispered against me. His whole tongue transitioned from short flicks across my clit into long defining strokes. My body quivered from the sensation, aching in the expectancy for a release. "Let me hear you say my name Bella."

"Mmm." I hummed, in the substitution for words. Since I'd apparently lost all of my coherency. "Masennn...so good."

"Good girl." Masen complimented, his voice strained from his own desire. "Don't hold back. I want to hear you scream." His sucking and nibbling, teasing, and flicking grew more aggressive as my moans grew more profound. I couldn't quite stop myself from fisting his hair and practically smashing his face against my wetness.

His tongue moved in slow winding circles before sliding forward to tease my entrance. He nipped and sucked and lapped and stroked, but absolutely none of it came to a surprise to me. Masen knew exactly what to do to make me come undone. He had experience in turning girls into withering messes. There was no doubt about that in my head. Who would ever resist him?

"Masssennn." I moaned loudly. I knew I was about to come, I could feel every string in my body tightening. The pleasure was building, soaring into a sensation I'd never felt before and I knew that I was going to potentially suffocate him between my thighs. "I'm sooo...clooose."

I could feel Masen smiling against my sex but he did not stop what he was doing. In fact, his hands got a little jealous of the attention that his mouth was receiving. His fingers decided to cut in on the action. He easily slipped two of his fingers inside of me and began to move them at a very deliberate angle.

"Ahhh...fuuuck...shiiit...yessss!" I probably screamed out every curse word my poor brain could recall in that moment, as the intensity of my orgasm rippled throughout me. The sensation tore my entire body apart, sending me into an explosion of pleasure. My eyelids drooped shut. My body continued to tremble slightly, my breathing erratic and uneven. Masen slowly eased out of his motions and I felt him come back up to kiss me.

I could taste the remains of myself on his tongue. It was tangy, and salty, and gross but it was so good mixed in with the taste of him.

My hands moved down from their places at my sides, slipping between us. He allowed me to palm his dick through his jeans. I could feel it twitching in his pants to the sensitivity of my touch. I rubbed my hand over his crotch gaining confidence from the groan that came from between his lips. His body reacted to me on instinct, he thrust towards my hand and another strangled groan slipped from his lips. It wasn't enough for him. It wasn't enough friction.

"I'm not having sex with you." His voice was edgy, eyes shut tightly.

"Good." I said lightly. Though the thought of having sex with Masen tonight was growing more into an intriguing idea. "Because I didn't really plan on losing my virginity to someone I'd just met anyway."

He smirked at me as if he were completely aware of my lying. His hand wrapped around mines and maneuvered them both away from his erection.

"I'm trying very hard not to ravish you Bella. You'd let me take your virginity right now and you know you would."

_He was right. _

_So the fuck what? Who in their right mind wouldn't let Masen Cullen take their virginity?_

"We're not going to. I just want to make you feel good after what you did for me." Just thinking about his mouth on me was enough to turn me on again.

He shook his bronzed head. "I don't have enough self-control right now Bella. Once I feel your mouth or your hand on me I'm going to want to feel all of you. Please do not tempt me."

He let go of my hands and chuckled at the astonished expression on my face. What boy turned down getting jerked off? What kind of boy turned down a fucking blow job? "You can always return the favor another day."

Another day? That would imply that he wanted to see me again...like this.

"Does that mean that you're interested in me then?" I vaguely remembered Edward's words from earlier tonight. He warned me of Masen. He implied that if Masen became interested in me then something bad was going to happen to me.

_Screw Edward..._

"Oh Isabella." His eyes darkened just a little bit more as he said this. "You are the sweetest thing I've tasted. I'm way past the point of being interested."

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><p><strong>So that was chapter 2<strong>

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	3. THE TALK

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

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_**WARNING: THIS STORY IS RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, THEMES, AND LEMONS...**_

_**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES THE MENTION OF SATANISM. WE DO NOT WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE OR THEIR RELIGION. THIS STORY IS COMPLETELY FICTIONAL. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**_

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><p>"You're a little slut!" Rosalie accused, with a small knowing smile on her face. We were in the parking lot and standing against her car. After I left to find Masen at the party I didn't see her or Jasper for the remainder of the night. Masen actually had to end up giving me a ride home. "You totally gave up your v-card to Masen didn't you?"<p>

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her. I wasn't a complete horn dog. "No Rosalie. I'm not that incapable of making sensible decisions around cute guys. Why would I let him take my virginity in the middle of a party? If you knew me you would know that I would want my first time to be just a little more special than that."

I was a fucking world-class bull shitter. I knew very well that if Masen had wanted to have sex with me last night I would have given my virginity to him without a second thought.

"So what did you two do? You practically disappeared after you went to find him." Jasper asked curiously. He was just as much of my best friend as Rosalie was, and I was just as comfortable with talking to him about boys and sex as I was with his eccentric sister.

"We made out and stuff." I could feel the warm and annoying feeling of heat rushing into my cheeks. I didn't need to look at my reflection to know that I was blushing as red as a bamboon's ass.

"And stuff?" Jasper quiried. A smirk crossed his face as he chuckled.

"Did he make you cum?" Rosalie asked, leaning towards me with wide violet eyes.

This was none of their business. Not that they failed to realize this fact. They were just being the nosy assholes that they always were.

I nodded my head meekly. There was no point in trying to keep things from them. They were adamant when they wanted to get something out of me. They'd aggravate me with their annoying prying until I finally gave up and just told them. They knew exactly how to push my buttons and I made it so easy for them to because I always responded the same way.

"Oooh!" Rosalie's eyes lit up with unhinged enthusiasm. It was actually quite funny how giddy she was at an experience that wasn't even her own. "Did he use his mouth or hands? Or both?"

I looked down at the blue converse on my feet. I didn't want them both to see the big fucking balloon smile stretching across my face. They would tease me for days. "Both."

"Oh my God...Bella!" Rosalie chuckled at me. She knew that last night was the most significant sexual encounter I'd ever had. "Was he good? Did he just lick up and down or did he swirl his tongue a little? Oh, I love it when they spread it open and thr..."

"Rosalie!" Jasper exclaimed loudly. There was a wry frown starting to cover his face now. "The last thing I want to do is imagine my sister getting tongue fucked...please don't paint that picture for me."

Rosalie rolled her eyes at him and sighed loudly. Her groan of exasperation was feigned but humorous. "Fine, but Bella and I aren't done with this conversation yet."

"What about you two?" I suddenly remembered that Jasper and Rosalie's whole purpose for going to that party was to potentially bone the other Cullens. I wondered if they had succeeded. I didn't get a chance to call them after the party because I was too fucking exhausted.

"Negative." Jasper gave me a thumbs down. "Alice was totally not down to fuck."

I wanted to laugh at the expression that was occupying his face. It was almost like he was still in utter disbelief that Alice had resisted him. No girl had ever resisted Jasper Hale before. What was the world coming to these days?

"Emmett was a little more willing." Rosalie said and she had a similar expression on her face. "He let me jerk him off in his father's library but he wouldn't touch me or let me go any further."

"What did you spend your time doing then Jazz? Did you and Alice play checkers?" I asked. I knew exactly how to get under their skin too. Sometimes it was fun being the teaser instead of the one being teased. We all did it in good nature. We liked to grate on each other's nerves. It was never taken seriously though.

"No." He huffed childishly, crossing his arms over his chest indignantly. There was a playful glare on his face that stated how much he disliked the humor I was finding at his expense. "I spent most of the night listening to her talk on and on about her family's stupid history."

"Did she tell you why they decided to move to Hallow Hill?"

"Yeah, it turns out that the house has been in their family for generations. Everyone whose ever lived in the house was related to them."

"Did you tell her about the stories?" Rosalie asked. Despite her rant about them all being bullshit lies I knew that she was still a little apprehensive of the house. Everyone was. The stories were too gruesome to ignore. The fact that we didn't know if they were real or not was what creeped everyone out so much. The people in this town had done a pretty good job of avoiding the house on Hallow Hill up until last night.

"She told me that some of it is true. Most of it is exaggerated. She wouldn't really elaborate that much. It was like she was holding back information on purpose."

"I knew it." I said quietly. I bet the spirits of those people were still in that house. When I walked through those halls alone I couldn't help but feel as if someone was there watching my every move. Maybe that had just been me being overly paranoid. "What else did you learn?"

"She told me that Masen was sick." Jasper said this with remorse, I could only infer that by sick he meant something other than the common cold.

I gasped lightly as I pondered this. Masen did look sick. That was the first thing that I'd noticed about him. I hadn't realized that he was actually severely ill. I would have never guessed it. He seemed happy enough. "What does he have?"

"I think I remember Alice saying something about Leukemia. He's been in and out of remission for years. That's why he gets sick a lot."

I felt sorry for Masen. He was so young and the span of his life would be so short if he was not able to beat the disease. I felt like I cared about him somehow, even though I had only met him yesterday. It was human nature to feel compassion for other living things. Empathy was something I was good at. It was a unfortunate thought that Masen might die someday soon.

"Oh, there they are." Rosalie said blithely, just as that shiny Volvo pulled into the parking lot. I saw that Emmett had been assigned designated driver this morning, and he looked so funny cramped in the small space that the Volvo provided. I would have laughed at the sight under normal circumstances but I was still reeling from the unfair fact that Masen had leukemia.

Emmett parked their car right beside Rosalie's again. I hid my smile of anticipation when they all began to empty the car. Edward was the first person my eyes laid upon. He looked deliciously pissed off this morning. I could see that he was carrying two book bags across his shoulders. I had to infer that one of them belonged to Masen and that maybe Masen was too weak to carry it himself.

"Hi Edward." I greeted him out of pure politeness. His only response was a very unfriendly glare before he moved past us and stalked into the building.

"What the fuck is up his ass?" Rosalie mumbled. We watched his lean body stalking across the crowded lot and disappearing beyond the entrance doors. He was wearing all black like yesterday. In fact, I didn't put it past me that they all were dressed in black again.

"Don't mind Edward." Masen said softly. He gave me a small smile. I noticed that his appearance had debilitated again. He looked as severely sick as he did when he first entered the biology lab yesterday. I wondered briefly how his appearance could change so rapidly in the span of twenty-four hours. Last night he'd looked significantly healthier. There was no trace of that lustrous boy left now. "He's not a morning person."

"He's not an anytime of the day person." Alice clarified, her high soprano voice sounded like silver bells to my ears, even when she was clearly irritated. She stared after Edward's retreating figure in a way that told me she wasn't as close to him as she was to Masen.

Masen smiled down at his sister endearingly. She was right at his side and that seemed natural for them. His arm wrapped around her waist. She fitted against him easily. I only let myself be jealous of their proximity for a second before I realized how ridiculous I was being. She was his fucking sister. Of course they were going to be close like that.

"Did you guys enjoy the party?" Emmett asked curiously, but his eyes flickered and landed on mine. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. He seemed to be more curious of my answer than anyone else's. He waited for me to speak patiently.

"I had fun." I stated in a nice tone. I was a little unsure of what he'd expected me to say though. I didn't want to sound too enthused.

He seemed to like my answer because he nodded and smiled a little. "That's wonderful to hear. I'm sure that Masen was a good host?"

He inquired this as if he already knew the answer to the question. I think he did know the answer because his smile widened just a little bit more. His dimples were on full display at his insider that I had caught onto.

"Yes." I said surely. Did everyone know what Masen and I did last night? "The party was awesome."

"Thanks Bella." Alice clasped her hands together with a chipper smile. "I'm so glad that you guys enjoyed yourselves."

The school bell rang before anyone else could contribute to the dry morning conversation. The cathedral like chimes were the student's indication that it was time for class to start. I watched the Cullens say their good byes to each other before they set off in separate ways.

I was a little entranced by the way Alice bounced forward to capture Masen's pallid cheek with her lips. She lingered on his skin for just a second, and when she finally pulled away from him she swiped her thumb across the spot that she'd just caressed with her kiss. It was a very endearing thing to watch. The bond between the two of them was strong, intense, and maybe even a little intimate. "Have a good day okay?"

Masen responded to her in the way of a nod. He didn't say anything else as he watched her leave with Emmett and the Hales.

When Masen and I were finally alone, he looked at me with a confidence that made me shudder. "Did you really enjoy yourself last night Bella?"

"I think you know just how much I did." He did know. I knew he did. Masen just wanted to hold the satisfaction of me admitting it inside of his hands. He was cocky but he was moderate with it. I liked the fact that he did not overdue his arrogance.

Masen opened his mouth to reply but it seemed that he could not get the words out. I watched very wearily as the color of his face literally shifted from pale into a light green. His expression indicated that he was in some sort of pain. I did not understand what was happening. I definitely couldn't come up with any ways that I could have been helpful in that moment.

He let out a quiet wheezing sound. It was slow and jagged. The noise reminded me of an old locomotive puffing as it struggled up a steep slope. I didn't know what to do. He had just been fine a few seconds ago when everyone else had been around. Why'd he have to get sick when we were the only two people left in the parking lot?

His body began to heave and quake violently. I was almost absolutely positive that I could see the vomit rising from inside of his throat. I wasn't quite prepared for the event that happened next.

"Masen are you alright?"

As if my weary words had triggered it, Masen opened his mouth and heaved, spilling dark, bloody bile from within. It was completely liquid, without substance, splattering the ground.

I looked down at the dark vomit with wide eyes. It was not only liquid but thick and gooey like something directly out of a tar pit. I couldn't think of anything to compare the aroma to at the moment, but it was utterly repulsive to my sense of smell.

After heaving until nothing more would come out, his stomach was supposedly void. Masen stood up more erect, guarding his dripping mouth with his arm.

"I'm fine." Everything about him completely contradicted the statement. His eyes were watery and even they held the indication of pain.

I gave a short nod of understanding, but I couldn't manage to make myself not be disgusted by the sight. "I think you should go to the nurse Masen."

"No." He shook his head at me reassuringly. His tone was dismissive, at odds with the severeness of what had just happened. "That would be quite unnecessary Bella. We should go to class before we're late."

I examined him with confusion. He did look significantly better now, but there was just no way that he was fine. I brought my lip between my teeth to hold back my determination to get him help.

"I know you're sick." I said once we'd reached the building.

"Why, you're so keen with your observations Bella." Masen's dark eyes regarded me calmly, before a small smile broke across his face. "Do tell me what gave it away?"

"I mean I know you have leukemia." I ignored his playful teasing.

"Leukemia?" He repeated this as if it were an entirely new concept to him. His voice was utterly thoughtful, but when he spoke again his smile had widened. "Did Alice tell you that?"

"She told Jasper last night." I looked at him with sheer interest. He seemed less than concerned about the fact that he was sick.

"Ah yes." Masen nodded his bronzed head, a playful glint sparked his green eyes back to life. "Would you like to offer me your pity now? Or perhaps we should discuss which color roses you are to put on my grave when I die?"

I couldn't help but be even more confused by how completely nonchalant his tone was. He was making a joke out of his sickness. It was such a morbid outlook on life. I glanced at him sideways as we walked down the halls.

"I don't think you can really appreciate the beauty of roses once you are gone. So we can discuss which roses you would like now and I'll buy them for you while you are still here." I didn't want to encourage the casual demeanor that he'd put on when the subject of his illness became the topic of our conversation, but I realized that everyone had different coping mechanisms. Maybe pretending like dying wasn't a big deal was his way of staying sane.

This made the corner of Masen's mouth twitch but he did not smile.

"We'll discuss it later." He said this as a promise, stopping in front of a class that I could only infer was the one he needed to be going in. He flashed me a very demonic smirk. The sight of it stopped my heart for a moment. "And you can tell me which roses you would like. In case, you were ever to die before I reached a demise myself."

**~TOB!~**

My first three classes dragged along. I cursed the slow ticking of the clocks in the classrooms.

I couldn't get Masen out of my mind. I could not banish him out of my thoughts no matter what I did or tried to focus on. He was the only thing that seemed to stay a constant subject in my head today. In fact, My thoughts of Masen seemed to permeate inside of my mind more and more with the moments that passed.

My fourth class period was my study hall hour. This was my favorite time of the day. My teacher allowed me to visit the library during this period because my grades were flawless. I really had no need to study.

As soon as I entered the desolated library, I noticed a bronze-haired boy sitting alone at a table in the back. At first glance I imagined it to be Masen, but the closer I got to him the more I could tell that this was the twin I did not favor.

I knew that Edward had unfavorable feelings about me as well. We had only met each other yesterday so I couldn't understand how I'd done anything that might of offended him already. I had hope that maybe I could redeem myself if I actually tried to have a real conversation with him.

I approached his isolated table and pulled out the chair across from him. I tried to do this as carefully as I could. I did not want to interrupt his reading and give him another reason to dislike me. He seemed pretty engrossed in the particular piece of literature in his hands.

His form tensed almost instantly the second I sat down. His dark green eyes lifted at an excruciatingly slow pace, impaling sharp daggers up my body until they landed on my face.

"What do you want?" The tone of his darling voice was deliberately harsh. I did not flinch from the sound of it but I allowed myself to cringe away from the malevolence inside of his eyes.

"I was just sitting." I managed to say. Though my voice was small and indistinct. "I didn't think it would be a problem."

"You don't think much at all do you?" He posed this question in a completely insulting way. His head tilted to the side as he watched me in a condescending thoughtfulness.

I could feel a little bit of anger pinching its way into me. This boy had a lot of audacity. He hardly knew me and yet he thought it was okay to insult my intelligence so easily. Looking back at him with a frown, I had to wonder what I'd done wrong to him without my knowing.

"I know you don't particularly like me..." I paused, perhaps hoping that he'd cut in and deny my accusation. He did nothing but wait for me to continue. His eyes were alight with a new curiosity though. "But I don't know why and I hardly think that you have a reason anyway."

"You don't know anything." He said, I watched him fold the page of his book at the corner in order to save his spot. He sat the book carefully in his lap. I had all of his undivided attention on me now. It was an eerie feeling but I couldn't let myself be afraid of him. "You're absolutely clueless."

"About what?" I demanded ferociously. He was calling me stupid in so many words. I was not stupid. But it also seemed that his words meant more than what I was understanding at the moment. I needed to understand what he was talking about. It was a new found desire of mind and I didn't quite know where the desire had come from. It was just something about the Cullen family that intrigued me. I wanted to be the first to figure them all the way out for some reason.

"About everything! About my family!" I had a feeling that he would have been yelling these things at me if we had not been in the library.

But I did know about his family. I was learning more and more about them as time went by. They were still constant gossip around these halls. It was hard not to pick up on the information that was floating around about them.

"I know that your twin brother is sick." I said this carefully, in case it was a sore subject for him. "I'm sorry about that...that he has leukemia I mean."

Edward scoffed at my sincerity. "Don't believe every fucking thing that Alice says. She's on his side. She has always been on his side. They're going to tell you a lot of fabricated things if you continue on the route that you are going. It's going to be your choice on whether you believe them or not."

"I don't..." I didn't want to admit that he had lost me. It would only add to his assumption that I was slow at understanding. "I don't know what you're talking about Edward."

"Of course you don't." His voice was scornful. The dark of his eyes were impossibly stormy.

"Won't you explain it to me then?"

Edward lowered his head a bit and sighed out. For a moment, I wondered if he would respond at all. Then again, it wouldn't have surprised me much…

"I don't have the patience for that." His voice was dismissive, indicating that the conversation was his to end at any given time.

"Tell me something." I pleaded quietly. I didn't want to let this conversation die. Not yet. "You're so vague and yet you expect me to know these things."

"You won't have to know them if you just leave Masen alone. He's not the good guy Bella. He has always been the villain and he'll hurt you."

I didn't tell him this but his warnings of Masen were pretty much like empty threats to my ears. The Masen that I met and experienced was nothing like the Masen that Edward wanted me to picture.

"Why don't you like me?" I decided to ask instead.

This made Edward raise his eyebrows. When he looked at me his expression almost seemed gentle. "Because I don't want to see the same thing happen to you that has happened to tons of other people. You're so naive and trusting that it disgusts me."

I decided not to be offended by the fact that I disgusted him. "Masen told me that you two were close."

"He told the truth." Edward nodded his head solemnly. His expression was one of confliction. "I love my brother dearly but I also hate him with a passion."

The conversation was steadily becoming less tense. I could feel the mood around us lightening up just a little. I needed to get the subject matter away from Masen. I needed to ask him something completely random and then maybe he would open up to me. "Who taught you to play the piano so well?"

"My father taught me the basics." He replied dryly. His eyes watched mines intently. I had a feeling that he was aware of my motives. Edward was very observant. "But I trained myself to reach the skill level that I am on now."

"Your composition was beautiful. It reminded me of Debussy somehow." Classical music was one of my favorite genres.

"You know Claude Debussy?" He asked curiously. For the first time since I'd met him he smiled a little. There was no way for me to ignore the fact that he was simply stunning. "Debussy is my favorite composer of all time."

"Clair De Lune is great." I agreed with a smile of my own. "My mom used to play a lot of classical music around the house. It kind of grew on me."

"Used to? Does that mean she's dead then?" His tone was interested and yet it was absolutely bland at the same time. I didn't picture Edward as the comforting type.

"No." I shook my head. The Cullens were so abnormally nonchalant about the usually grim subject of death. They discussed dying as naturally as someone would discuss the weather. "My parents are in the middle of a divorce. She moved back to Florida with her mother until she can get on her feet again."

"I would say that I'm sorry for your parents getting seperated but there are far worse things that can happen to you. You should consider yourself lucky."

I didn't let myself get upset over this. Edward was a pecuiliar person. He said pecuiliar things. I didn't hold it against him. "What were you reading before I came along and interupted you."

He picked up his book and slid it across the table to me without hesitation. The book was big, thick, and black. It had no title on the cover of it. It was definitely something that I would expect someone like him to be reading. I opened the covered and peered inside to get the title.

"Satanism?" I questioned, I couldn't quite keep the weariness out of my voice. It was surprising. And then again, it wasn't. "So, you really are gothic aren't you?"

"Don't be ignorant Bella. Being gothic doesn't mean you worship the devil or wear black all of time. That's just a popular myth in American culture. In all reality most goths do worship God."

"But you don't?" I quiried, eyebrows lifted. My family wasn't the strongly religious type, but we did believe in God and we prayed every night before dinner. I'd never met someone who not only did not believe in God but practiced Satanism as well.

"My family doesn't worship a God and we don't usually tell people this."

_For good reasons indeed. They would be completely ostracized if people knew about this._

_Satanism was taboo pretty much everywhere._

"But what about you?" I was curious because I was apprehensive. It was just a simple fact that humans feared what they did not understand.

"I grew up like most children do. Religion got instilled in me during an early age so that I could grow up believing in it and teach it to my kids as well. Satanism is as much of a religion as Christianity and like every other religion. It's a choice on whether or not you'd like to believe in it. I used to be just as devoted to it as my family is now, but that was before I started researching and learning about other religions."

"So you don't share your family's beliefs anymore?" His family must have been practicing Satanism for generations and if that was the truth then it would explain some of the stories that had surfaced about Hallow Hill.

"I don't know." He said truthfully. He looked down for a second. "It's hard to dismiss everything that you have been taught while you were growing up. I don't claim a religion anymore. I do believe that there is a god though and I am thoroughly convinced that my family and I are going to burn in hell...especially Masen."

I shook my head. It was reeling uncontrollably.

"Are you frightened now?" His voice was oddly soft and only for me somehow. His eyes were still hard around the edges though.

"Yes." I said, just as truthful as he had been to me before.

"Good." I watched him look toward me. His face was unreadable, but I could have sworn that I detected some concern for me somewhere in his eyes. "Finally a reasonable reaction out of you. Maybe you will start to listen to me now."

"When you say..." I pondered curiously.

"When I say that Masen is dangerous." His voice was nowhere near as soft as his expression. They were complete contradictions of each other.

"Dangerous?" I repeated, though I couldn't quite make myself belive it.

He grabbed his bag off of the back of the chair he was seated in just as the bell rang for lunch.

"Or when I say to stay away from him."

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><p><strong>BIG AUTHOR NOTE :<strong>

**I DO NOT SUPPORT SATANISM AND I DO NOT WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE OR THEIR RELIGIONS**

**THIS STORY IS COMPLETELY FICTIONAL!**

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><p><strong>THIS IS CHAPTER THREE HOPED YOU ENJOYED IT :)<strong>

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW**

**PM ME IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS**


	4. THE THREAT

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

**Thank you for all of the support. I got a lot of story alerts that put a big smile on my face.**

**Please continue to read read and review**

**~Emotional0v3r**

_**WARNING: THIS STORY IS RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, THEMES, AND LEMONS...**_

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><p><em><strong>MASEN POV<strong>_

"They're killing you." The sound of her voice inside of my ear was velvet and softness wrapped up in a warm blanket of adoration. Sometimes I would very much rather Alice be my twin than Edward but then I wouldn't have nearly as much fun. "They can't do this to you."

I laid my head onto of her lap and shifted my gaze up to look at her stunning face. She sifted her fingers through the grains of my hair in an unconscious pursuit for comfort. She was correct with her previous statement and she was worrying herself ill about it.

My physical health was steadily debilitating. As the days passed my body continued to change into a corpse. I often felt drowsy which was something I didn't experience very frequently. I did not get so tired that I needed to rest but weary enough that I lost my desire to do things. Also, I was not nearly as quick and strong anymore. Although I was still probably more than a match for any human.

The worst part about it all had to be the fact that my family was just sitting around and watching it happen. This was really not the way that I was supposed to be. I was not supposed to feel weak and sick and fragile.

"They're acting like your survival isn't even an aspect to be considered anymore." I watched Alice's brows knit together in irritation, her green eyes practically a mirror of mines.

When all failed, Alice was always on my side. We had a special connection with each other. Alice and I had always been close because our entire family had once been very close-knit, but ever since Edward and I started to rival each other she became the sibling that I spent most of my time with.

"Alice they're simply keeping my strength at a more vulnerable state. Just in case they're forced to subdue me again." I smiled with wicked pleasure as I reminisced back onto the blood rage I'd gone on in Chicago. I might not have spiraled out of control if they would have just considered working with the plan I'd come up with in the first place. I might not have killed so many people if Edward wouldn't have pissed me off. "We have had to move around quite a bit because of my careless actions. Chicago was a blood bath."

"You had that under control." Alice insisted, without an ounce of hesitation. Her trust in me was simply endearing but my dear sister had way too much confidence in me. I wouldn't bring this to her attention, though she would probably be surprised at just how much self control I was actually lacking. "There was no way that those murders could have ever been linked back to you."

"We can't just have him going around killing random people." Edward seethed, from where he now stood quietly in the doorway. His eyes were narrowed, but the rest of his features were contorted with wryness.

I'd heard him approaching before he'd actually arrived and I'd sensed that gravitational tug of awareness that I always felt whenever he was around me. Edward and I had a special connection as well, but the connection that I shared with my dear twin was absolutely nothing like the one I shared with Alice.

Edward and I were bonded with each other in a way that no one else could ever possibly understand. He could hear the words inside of my head that I did not speak aloud. His mind reading ability was limited though. I was the only person whose thoughts he could unlock and he was the only person whose feelings I could detect. Every emotion that ever passed through his body also passed through mines. I was so in tuned with him that I felt the barreling feelings he kept locked inside as if they were my very own emotions.

The term good twin was absolutely invalid when it came down to distinguishing my brother and I. Edward was dark and sinister. He was a masochist with a heart as black as tar.

There probably were no words in the English dictionary significant enough to describe my character. I was proud to say that I was simply one of a kind. The basis of my personality stemmed off of the fact that I always tended to be indifferent about most things.

Death was a natural endeavor in my eyes. I was completely unconcerned with the sudden conscience that Edward had fabricated for himself. The true nature of a person could never change. No matter how humane they wanted to be.

Edward did not fool me. His heart was not pure and his hands were not untainted. If I were to go out and kill someone at this exact moment in time Edward would be the person who covered up my tracks. He may have stopped helping me during the actual killing, but he still would eliminate all of the extra evidence so that no one could ever trace anything back to me. He liked to claim that he hated me but if he loathed me so much why did he want to keep me as an innocent to the world?

Edward was no different than me. He was guilty for just as much as I was guilty for. The only difference was the fact that I never felt an ounce of guilt afterwards. I could never bring myself to feel sorry for whoever I'd chosen as a prey.

So which one of us was really better? The killer or the accomplice?

"You act as if he doesn't have a motive." The corners of Alice's mouth dropped at the sight of our brother. She and him didn't quite get along. They were actually almost always opposing each other and that was because their viewpoints on most situations were entirely different. They could never find a point of agreement. It was a shame that we all couldn't just get along and thrive off of each other.

Alice was more like me in a way. She knew of my gruesome nature and she accepted it. She did not try to fight it because it was messy and difficult at times, but Edward was always upset over the idea of what I was. Their tremendous differences caused them to dislike each other and over the years their dislike for each other eventually transitioned into hate. I'd learned that it was quite possible to dislike someone with an intensity like no other and that remarkably, you could still entirely love them at the same time. "He doesn't just kill for sport Edward. Masen does it to survive."

"He did it." Edward's clarification was followed after with a pointed smile. "But now that we've found him a substitution he doesn't have to go around killing anymore."

"Don't you see what is happening to him? He's getting weaker and weaker everyday. He's practically throwing up his insides and some of his teeth are even starting to fall out now. He's going to keep getting sick until there is nothing more left of him."

I could feel the anger and irritation that was adamant on poisoning Edward's blood. He did not like the fact that our little sister was so passionate about taking up for me. His narrowed gaze shifted between me and Alice before he shook his head in exasperation. "Masen's immune system is impenetrable Alice. Believe me when I say that he is not getting sick. His teeth grow back as soon as they fall out and the only reason that his body is reacting so violently now is because it isn't used to the new substance that he's been consuming lately."

"Did Carlisle feed you that bullshit?" Edward did not succeed in changing Alice's opinion, her expression remained sturdy in anger. She was utterly and completely beautiful. "He can't survive just off of blood Edward...animal blood at that."

"You think human blood would suffice then?" Edward's eyebrows lifted languidly with his question. There was a hint of unhidden disgust tugging on the edge of his features.

"No, human blood will not work either. He needs flesh and meat and organs." It was a delight of mine to hear Alice saying this so calmly. Her view on taking away human life was beautiful. She gave little to no concern on what I had to do to survive. As long as I was healthy she was satisfied. Family came first.

I was a predator and that was just the truth. I didn't choose to be born this way. I didn't tell Carlisle to do what he did to save me. He didn't know what he was doing. It was a mistake but it happened, and I had no choice but to embrace the creature that I was. I did not blame him.

I was supposed to be the greatest predator ever designed. When I was to my full capabilities, the velocity of my movements were in such a quick speed that human eyes could not follow them. My strength was impossible to measure, though I was not entirely indestructible. My eye sight, my hearing, and my sense of smell were spectacularly keen. There was no other creature on this earth who had even the slightest superiority over my abilities. My last and most useful asset was supposed to be my appearance. My beauty was how I led my prey into my traps.

My voice...My face...Even my smell...it all lured them in.

Drinking animal blood kept me alive just barely. It also eliminated all of the extraordinary advantages that came with being the type of predator that I was. I could still see, smell, and hear very well...but even my vision was starting to blur a little now. I had never been more close to being human than I was now, and I could not bare the thought of being stuck like this forever. Human senses were so insignificant. It was a shame that they had to view the world through such unremarkable eyes.

I heard Edward growling in his disapproval before the disapproval actually showed on his face. "You think that he should be able to murder innocent people for his own benefit?"

Alice made a short scoffing noise at his softness. What had happened to him? She and I had to be thinking the same thing. "You know as well as we all do that there is no such concept as an innocent person. Humans are ruthless Edward."

"Do they deserve to be killed for it?" His stare was unwavering as he waited for her to answer.

"Everyone has to die someday Edward. Humans kill each other everyday." Alice's point was getting more and more defined. I remembered a time when Edward had been on my side as well. I remembered when his thoughts were just the same as mine. "Lions kill gazelles...it's natural for things to kill other things that are lower on the food chain than they are."

"Don't even start to lie to yourself for a second Alice." His voice was a vicious snarl. The anger in him was delightful. He never quite let himself go to his emotions but that was what he needed to do. He needed that anger, it could be used as motivation. "There is absolutely nothing natural about Masen or about what he needs to do to survive."

"It's not as though I need your permission." My entrance into the conversation was not unexpected. I tended to voice my opinion whenever I felt like it. "I will proceed to take matters into my own hands very soon."

"Is that what you're planning with that Swan girl? You're going to seduce her to take her life away from her? This is only the second day we've been here and you're already intending on fucking everything up?"

The hatred in my brother's voice made me shudder with amusement. Thinking of dear Isabella and the way she'd tasted on my mouth last night also made me shudder, but that shudder was for an entirely different reason. I hadn't had a good meal in over two weeks and two weeks was just enough time to diminish my health into barely nothing.

I was not strong enough to chase my prey anymore. I could not kill so easily as before. That was why I would just have to make my prey come to me. I expected my chase to be fairly short. This one would be easy because Isabella was so ignorantly trusting. She had not even an ounce of self-perseverance. It was unfortunate that the world would have to be ridden of such beauty.

"You cannot stop me no matter what my intentions may be." I turned and looked at Edward fully. He did not find it in himself to say anything else to me. His glare and his feelings said it all. He knew that what I said was the truth though, he knew that he could not stop me.

So we just opted to look at each other for a few more seconds. My expression was laconic and still. He wasn't quite glaring at me anymore but his expression still wasn't one of pleasantness either. He was surveying me as if he were sizing me up. I knew my brother's every intention. I could read him as easily as I could read an open book. I could feel his sense of what he called justice driving him towards wrathful retaliation.

"Don't even try it." I proceeded to say. The warning that laced my voice widened Edward's eyes to the size of saucers. I would never have fathomed the thought of killing my brother before this day but I was getting desperate enough for some nourishment. I was much too weak and in pain to control my actions intelligently. If he tried to provoke me I would react and it wouldn't end prettily. "I wouldn't want to end up having to feed off of my dear old brother. Then who would be there to keep me company at night?"

"Screw you." He snapped darkly. His voice was almost as intimidating as mines, widened eyes narrowed back into slits and he chuckled. "You wouldn't harm a hair on my head."

"Under normal circumstances." I agreed with him. I loved him dearly. That was the truth. "But now...I wouldn't be so sure."

"How would you live with yourself? How could you look into the mirror knowing all of the lives that you've destroyed?" Edward felt even more guilty about my actions than I did and ever would. He had always been the one beside me. He even used to help me on my chase and then one day it all stopped.

"Have you not noticed by now Edward?" I felt a devilish smirk spread across my face. I chuckled at the shocked look on his identical face. "I don't have a fucking conscience. I know not of the word guilt or remorse."

"Good morning." Carlisle poked his head into Alice's bedroom and surveyed the tense atmosphere with a weary expression. My mood darkened at just the sight of him.

_He'd make just the perfect meal for me..._

Edward's glare returned when the thoughts in my head were read aloud to him. A look of abhorrence infected the entirety of his facial features. I had to hold back my urge to laugh.

"You have to go to school." Carlisle said lightly. "I'll bring you something home from the blood bank Masen."

And with that he exited the room...Leaving the three of us alone again.

**~TOB~**

Isabella and her two friends were already standing against their cars when we pulled into the school parking lot. I could only imagine that they were waiting for us to arrive in a failed attempt to be inconspicuous. I knew their intentions just as they thought they knew mines. Humans were not difficult to read at all. Everything was always written across their faces.

The smile that sat upon Isabella's face was the first thing that my eyes seemed to land on.

She was such a pleasantly-pretty, little girl. Her mother must have fed her nothing but sweets when she was a child. Even the aroma of her blood was perfumed with a saccharine fragrance. Those were the types of humans that I loved the most. The pure and untouched ones were the ones that tasted the best.

Edward was the first one to get out of the cramped Volvo and he was also the first one to retreat inside of the stuffy school building. He'd brushed past Isabella and her friends in a very rude manner. It was deliberate on his part. He would do absolutely everything in his power to try and get them to stay away from our family. That diligence of his amused me to no ends. He was not ignorant of the fact that I already had little Isabella wrapped around my fingers.

I apologized to Isabella and her friends for Edward's banal behavior, even though it was outrageously amusing to me. He never failed to bring a smile to my face with his ridiculous tendencies.

The next few minutes were filled with pondering small talk over the eventful party that Alice threw yesterday. Eventually, the first bell rang and all of the humans made their retreats into the building.

Once my siblings and the Hale's withdrew themselves from the lot, I was left alone with Bella and a stunningly delicious ache in my stomach. Being around humans and their scents was always a little bit difficult for me to handle, but it was always harder to resist the longer I went without feeding. What started out as a delicious ache immediately escalated into an excruciating yearning.

The ripe tang of Bella's scent seemed to form a tantalizing aroma cloud around me. The outside air was full of fresh oxygen but the smell of it was tainted with Bella's perfume. The delicious fragrance smothered the breath right from out of my lungs.

My muscles coiled with an intention to react. My mental and physical will to withstand my desperate need to feed battled endlessly with each other. My desires and the smell of her blood did not mix well. My want and the pain did not mix well.

I could end this pain so easily. It would be so damned simple that I would hardly break a sweat through it. I had already won her trust over last night, that much was obviously clear. I knew that if I suggested for her to skip class with me today she would not decline the offer. I could lead her into the fog bank inside of the thick fringe of trees that adorned the top of the hill behind our school building and there would be not even a smidgen of hesitation on her part.

It would be so easy to bring her towards me, to use my teeth to rip the tender flesh away from her bones. The blood inside of her body would be an excess treat. I could already imagine the warm liquid gushing into my mouth like a searing waterfall of decadence.

Nobody would ever know.

There was no one left in this parking lot. I would be the last person seen with Isabella but who would suspect the ill-fated boy with leukemia to have committed such a crime? It would be so damned easy for me to give into the temptation.

Nobody would ever know.

I could do it. I wanted to do it. I knew I wouldn't do it though. There was just too much fun to be had with Edward and this cute little girl first. I would not let my impulsiveness ruin that for me.

My body would not stop trying to fight my will to resist her. My lungs closed in on me and I was extremely unprepared for the sudden lack of oxygen I was receiving. My body quickly began to shut down from the tormenting pain. I struggled to keep myself from relinquishing into the darkness that was beginning to cloud my vision. My mouth opened to suck in some air to fill the aching hollowness in the pit of my stomach but the maneuver did not help. In fact taking in air only sent my body skyrocketing into a stream of unhinged trembles.

The inside of my mouth felt as though I'd consumed a cup of kerosene and swallowed an ignited match afterwards. I could come up with no words to describe the agonizing sensation that was exploding throughout my body. I tried to keep my mouth closed when I felt a wave of familiar nausea rippling across the front of my throat. The dreadful flavor of my blood and venom coated the insides of my mouth.

The force of my stomach heaving was what hit me like a ton of bricks. I doubled over with my stomach clutched inside of my hands and I couldn't help but spill the disgusting bile onto the ground.

The regurgitation itself was a ghastly ordeal but it left me feeling healthier nonetheless.

It didn't take very much to convince Isabella that I was fine to go to class. I knew she had tons of questions swarming her mind now, but she would just have to accept that the answers to them would never be found.

**~TOB~**

"You're Masen Cullen right?" I was waiting for Edward to meet me at my locker. We were going to walk together to the lunchroom. Apparently, Isabella's blond haired friends had invited us to sit with them at their lunch table.

I turned towards the sound of the disapproving voice and nodded my head. "Yes. May I ask who you are?"

An average-looking teenage boy frowned back at me with a practiced expression of intimidation. I tilted my head to the side with only a slight bit of curiosity. I could tell that I was going to be extremely uninterested with this boy and whatever he had to say to me in a matter of seconds.

"It doesn't matter who I am." He snapped rudely. I fought to keep a smile from covering my face. Humans did amuse me so and they amused me quite often. They always felt everything too much, their emotions were reckless, and their actions were impossibly humorous. "You're new so I'll give you a warning. You need to stay away from Bella okay?"

"Is she your girlfriend?" It wasn't like it really mattered to me either way. No insignificant human could stop me from doing what I wanted to do. If I wanted something I was going to get it no matter what and I wanted Bella Swan.

"No...but she will be." His voice was not as certain as I thought it would have been. He must have had some kind of lingering crush on Isabella for a while now. I couldn't blame him though...she was absolutely delectable.

"I'm terribly sorry to inform you that she won't." It was not because she didn't like him. I didn't actually know of Bella's feelings towards this boy and I did not care to know of them. She wasn't going to be alive that much longer so she wouldn't get a chance to act on those feelings anyway.

The boy's anger splattered the contours of his face with a paint of redness. I couldn't help but be amused at how over-worked he got over the thought of not getting his turn with Isabella. The girl was much too appealing for her own good.

"What makes you think that she won't be?" His chin was jutted out towards me in challenge. His tone was daring, he might have been intimidating had I actually been one of his kind.

I lifted my shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. The conversation was losing my interest very quickly. I had no concern in explaining myself to this jealous, little boy. If he was smart he would take my silence as a hint and never step foot in my path again. I turned toward my locker to finish putting my things away.

"Didn't you hear me ask you a question Cullen?" The boy's voice was a step away from hysterical. There were a few people in the hallway who were watching the ordeal. I had a feeling that the boy wouldn't have quite been so bold if there hadn't been any other people around.

"Actually, I heard you perfectly fine." I was relatively calm. I was too physically drained to even fathom getting worked up. I didn't let myself get excited in moments like this anyway. There wasn't a lot that could actually make me mad. He should consider himself lucky for that fact.

I decided to dismiss myself from this tiring situation because I knew that I could. I had no more interest in where this situation was leading. I turned to exit. For some reason that I could only deem unfathomable, the boy had gotten the audacity to fist the fabric in back of my shirt and pull my trek to a stop. If I had been stronger he wouldn't have been able to pull me backwards and shove me against the lockers.

A whoosh of air expelled from out of my lungs. A dull ache announced the welcoming of my back against the metal.

"You're a cocky little bastard aren't you?" The boy looked pleased with himself. He hadn't expected me not to retaliate. But he was very lucky indeed that I didn't have the strength to. "Let's get one thing straight."

"What's that?" I grimaced just a little. A few years ago his idiotic maneuver would have gotten himself and every other witness in this building slaughtered. My fists were balled at my sides with anger. There was only so much irritation I could harbor before it became rage and this boy had succeeded in enraging me. I wondered briefly if I still had the strength to reach out and crush his skull with my bare hands.

_Sadly, I knew that I did not..._

"Stay away from Bella." His warning was almost intimidating.

"And if I don't?" I didn't like being told what I could and could not do. I didn't like it one little bit.

"I'll fucking..."

"Whoa." The amused sound of Edward's voice drifted in on my side as he approached the situation with wide eyes. "It's only your second day here and you've already made yourself an enemy?"

Edward glanced at the boy wryly and he stepped away from me. He wasn't quite so confident when it was two of us.

"Is there a problem?" Edward inquired, he raised his eyebrows at the boy with expectancy. Edward was very protective of his family but I had to believe that he was intervening more for the boy's sake and not for mine.

The boy glared at Edward and me but he didn't say anything else before stalking away. I had a feeling that he would be back whenever he found me alone and we he did come I would be ready for him.

"I should have let him kick your ass." I knew that Edward would have never let that happened. The lilting of his tone did nothing to convince me otherwise.

"No." I shook my head. Bronzed strands of hair fell into my eyes from the maneuver. "You shouldn't have...he wants me to stay away from dear Isabella."

"Well, it seems as if you've got yourself a bit of competition." Edward looked at me and smiled wryly before chuckling again. This was extremely rare for Edward. He was never so light and conversational. I knew that this good mood of his would not last for long, soon he'd be back to his original, moody self. "Maybe she'll stay away from you."

"I doubt it." A wicked smirk crossed my face. There was absolutely nothing that could keep Isabella away from me now. There was no person that could compare to me. I have the type of compulsion that no male or female could withstand. Isabella didn't actually have a choice in this. I had already claimed her. "She's mine."

Edward's features darkened a little at my possessiveness. For a moment, I felt the extremity of his determination as if it were my own. "Not if I can help it."

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><p><strong>That was chapter four.<strong>

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	5. THE GAME

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

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_**WARNING: THIS STORY IS RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, THEMES, AND LEMONS...**_

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><p><strong>EDWARD POV<strong>

The beating of a drum. It was more than exceptionally loud. The sound could be described as thunderous but even then it wouldn't be being depicted with the appropriate adjective.

It was pounding and pulsing. It was alive and throbbing. It was rhythmical and explosive. It was like fireworks when they reached their journey to the top of the sky on July fourth.

That was what my head felt like right now. My headaches came and went. They were random, painfully unforgiving, and forever constant.

At this moment in time, Masen and I were walking down the dusty, child-filled corridor. We were on our way to the school's populous cafeteria.

For what reason? Masen and I were playing his game.

There was a period in time when you could say that Masen and I were partners in crime. There was no other way to put it. We were interlinked with our thinking patterns and conjoined by the explosiveness of our feelings. At that point of time, there was no distinguishing Edward from Masen. We were basically one person.

It wasn't even really that long of a time ago if you thought about it. Especially to Masen. Years ticked away to him like days ticked away to normal people. Masen remembered every single day of his life with vividly clear recollections.

He absolutely loved those days. We were never closer to each other than we were during that particular time. We were both embracing that we were heartless, both monsters from the nightmares that terrified children, both unlawful killers, and to us that was okay because it was all that we knew. It was what we were taught since we were born. We were supposed to stick with each other through thick and thin.

I could not honestly say that I was smarter than Masen or that I was a better person than he was. I was neither of those two things but there was a complex difference between the two of us. I had been born with enough sense of morality to realize that what we were doing was not right. I grew up being taught that family came first no matter what. My parents taught Masen and I to depend on each other. We were to be one and what one needed the other would always be there to supply. Later on I seemed to realize that murder was generally wrong. It was not supposed to be in our power to choose who could live and who could die.

I stopped agreeing to help my brother with his game of killing when I got to the point of mental independence. I tried to train myself to develop at least something resembling a conscience and I swore to the God that I believed in that I would do everything in my power to stop him from taking more lives.

At the very beginning of my rebellion he had been absolutely livid. I refused to help him and he tore apart our entire home in his phase of rage. He released his anger for me by going out and slaughtering tons of innocent people and he saved the only girl that I had ever known to love for last. He took away my most prized possession, the one thing that made this life worth living, and he tainted it the best way he knew how.

He demolished her with his monstrosity. He demolished me.

He thought that he would break me. He knew that I couldn't stand the thought of him killing because of me. He thought that his plan would work and that it would bend me back into his unwavering will. Masen always had this way of getting what he wanted from people.

_But he was wrong. His plan did not work .It actually only ended up making me more determined to stop him_.

Eventually, Masen realized that he'd completely lost me as an accomplice. He had completely lost me for a brother as well. I could not stand the sight of his very face after what he'd done to me. I could not stand the thought of him sharing the same blood as me. Still, I could never quite force myself to relinquish the brotherly bond that encapsulated us so restrictively. It was something about the way that we were bonded. It would never let me hate him completely.

He found out quickly after his rampage that I was not going to help him anymore. He grew to understand that I wasn't going to budge under any amounts of drastic circumstances. That was when he decided that he would have to continue on without me. I had always been his crutch of convenience.

Whenever he was weak he would always have to lean on me, when he was weak I would have to be the chaser, and when he was weak I was just as much as the killer as he was.

Without me he found that it was quite difficult for him to hunt when he was in his weakened physical state. So that meant that he had to kill more often to stay strong and he had to stay strong to hunt.

He was actually pretty good at staying inconspicuous with his killings until we moved to Chicago and his greed spiraled out of control.

A blood bath was the only way that I describe what Chicago was. Masen had never been more close to losing that one shred of humanity he harbored than then. He had become so strong from the amount of lives he was draining that it had become impossible for anyone to stop him. It was supernatural and we couldn't control him.

The only solution that we could come up with at the time was to kill him or to move again. My mother Esme and my siblings just about lost their minds at the thought of ending him completely.

Carlisle and I were the more practical two of the situation. We both knew that we could not allow Masen to continue killing off the population. We could not let him put our entire family in jeopardy of implication.

Our move to Forks had been deliberate. We had needed to get Masen out of such a populated city. Masen being around people was like a recovering alcoholic going to a bar full of alcohol. We picked a town where there wouldn't be quite so many people around to tempt him.

During his private study Carlisle had also learned that Masen could survive without taking human life. The consummation of animal blood could suffice just as effectively. Well, the substitution wasn't actually as effective as the killing of humans. Animal blood actually made Masen more humane.

He wasn't as strong, he wasn't nearly as quick and acute, he wasn't as physically healthy, and the fact that he could not get what he wanted pissed him off.

That was why he liked to play his morbid little games with me. He liked to taunt me with his amorality. He knew that I would always be opposed to him and that I would never stop trying to ruin his wickedness. During his games he was always the villain and I was the guy that tried to stop him. That was how we would go on. With him trying to lure people into his traps while I tried my damnedest to prevent it from happening.

_Usually, Masen always won..._

I was more practical than Masen was. I had logic and reasoning on my side but Masen was extremely conniving. He was a good liar. That was one of his best qualities. He could seem so innocent and nice. He could manipulate just about anyone into giving him what he wanted because he knew just how to use his words and appearance to lure people in.

Our family was an enigma and people found our air of mysteriousness intriguing. They were cautious of us. There was always something subtle in the way that we appeared to people that gave off the vibe that we were dangerous. That didn't always keep them from following their minds and staying away from us though. Masen gave out free invitations to almost anyone who found him interesting. He did not discriminate at all.

All he wanted was one thing and that was to kill. A human was a human to him.

"Brother." Alice said, greeting Masen with a warm smile upon her lips. There was a time when Alice didn't used to be such a monster. I couldn't quite remember that time but she wasn't always so much like Masen. "We almost thought that you two got lost."

The cafeteria was full of speculating people. My family and I were the main topic of gossip in this place. I couldn't imagine anything truly fascinating happening in Forks, Washington. I understood why everyone would be so enthralled by us. I was still highly irritated by the amount of attention that we were getting though. I did not like being stared at or scrutinized. I liked blending in and in this place we stuck out like a sore thumb. I had no doubts that my family and I would be getting attention from our classmates for a while.

I took the seat on the other side of Emmett and tried to keep my mind at bay. Isabella Swan and her friends engaged in a conversation with my siblings the second Masen sat down to take his seat and in a second I was easily forgotten.

I leaned back in my chair, balancing on two of it's four legs to stare up at the ceiling. It was easy for me to tune things out around me. I never let myself stop paying attention to my surroundings but I did stop paying attention to the people. It was what I had to do when I needed time to think.

"Edward." I turned my head before I could will myself to stop. It was an involuntary action to my name being called. I'd recognized the aggravating voice a second too late as it registered in my ears. "What are you thinking about?"

Bella looked at me with her wide brown eyes and for a moment I had to wonder why Masen was enthralled by her at all. She was painfully average in appearance to my eyes. Her hair was brown as were her dull eyes. She was petite and pale and I'd seen much much prettier girls before.

Of course I had read Masen's mind. I had experienced his yearning for her almost as if it were my very own. It was not so much her appearance that kept Masen drawn to her, it was more of a predatory wanting. When Masen was hungry there was never anything else on his mind but the fact that he was a predator and that everyone around him were his prey.

His desire was extremely painful. It was not something that could be described. There were no words gruesome enough to depict the agony of his hunger. I was quite possibly the only person who truly understood how much pain he was really in but I guess if there was a way for him to pay for the tons of horrific shit he'd done over the years, the agony that he was going through now should definitely count towards the measure somehow.

I wasn't Masen. That much was clearly obvious. I wasn't the creature that he was.

I could not smell the innocence of Isabella's blood. I could not literally feel the ache of his hollowness. I could not feel the coiling of his muscles or the burning of his throat.

But I could see Isabella. And I could see that she was doomed unless I could do something about it.

"Nothing in particular." I replied, my voice was a little bit dull in tone. Though I couldn't quite force myself to be even with her. She was so aggravating. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Not really." She showed me a small smile that I could not find in myself to want to return. "Alice and Masen were just inviting us over to do some studying together."

A wave of alarm rammed into me and I looked at Alice wryly. She was helping him through this. She was doing what I refused to do. "Do you think that's such a good idea? Did you ask mom and dad if we could have company tonight?"

Alice chuckled lightly. The darkness she harbored was only there to torment me. Masen had turned our baby sister into his very own puppet. She'd do absolutely anything that he asked, including luring someone in to their death. "Mom always wants company Edward and she'd love to meet Bella."

I couldn't tell if anyone besides me picked up on the brute ominousness inside of Alice's voice but if they did they didn't mention it.

Our whole family was dangerous and that was because our whole family was a group of enablers. It was very hard being me when there was only one other person in the house that shared my views. Esme was not as compassionate as Carlisle was. My father was completely against the tactics that Masen used to survive but my mother was more willing to look the other way than to harm her son. Her first concern was keeping Masen healthy and if that meant killing an innocent human here and there she seemed to have no problem with it.

_She was the heart of our family..._

_Masen was the monster..._

_I was the brains..._

I'd like to say that I was the right in our family but that would be a lie. We were all wrong. Very very much wrong.

"Rosalie and Jasper aren't coming then?" I raised my eyebrows in question. I knew it was bad, wanting to bring them into the situation. Bringing them into the situation would only raise their chances of getting killed. But I knew that Masen was less likely to try something when he was outnumbered and weak.

"Nope." Rosalie answered. She did not see the devastation in my eyes. "Jazz and I have to stay after school today. Extracurricular activities and all that good stuff."

I gave no response back to her and I tried my hardest to ignore the triumph in Masen's thoughts. Perhaps, them staying away was for the best anyway. I didn't want the blood of three innocents on my hands.

_Isn't she much too trusting? No type of self preservation...such a pity._

I turned my head but just slightly. Just enough to meet my brother's emotionless green eyes.

"So, you'll come by around five then?" Masen asked, hidden arrogance lacing his tone. He made sure to sneak a glance at me before smiling a darkly. "Esme would love to have you for dinner."

A small smirk formed on Emmett's face before he input, "You'd love to have her for dinner too."

It was sickening just how lightly everyone took the aspect of killing. Alice didn't care, Esme most definitely didn't care, and Emmett gave no second thoughts about it either. They were all sick in the worst way possible.

I shoved away from the table in anger. All three of the innocents shifted their eyes to look up at me in confusion. To them my behavior was unnecessary. They probably couldn't fathom why I was always so incredibly impolite. They did not know however, that I was the only one trying to save their lives.

If Bella disappeared today that would mean that Jasper and Rosalie were the only ones who'd known where she'd gone. They would be collateral damage and Masen would end up murdering them too.

"Where are you going?" Masen asked as I stalked away. He knew very well where I was going. The hidden humor in his voice was only evident to me. Tormenting me was one of his favorite pastimes. It was what he did best.

I did not acknowledge his question nor did I acknowledge the several pairs of lingering eyes that followed my trek out of the cafeteria. There was something about me that made people wonder but there was something more about Masen that made people linger.

I had my phone out of my jacket pocket before I even reached the hallway. I knew that Carlisle was probably busy working at the hospital but I needed to talk to him now.

"Damnit Edward." The phone rang twice before he answered it in a hurried whisper. I could hear the sound of other doctors talking in his background. I wouldn't be surprised if I had just interrupted something very important. "Why are you calling me now? Shouldn't you be in class or something?"

"I needed to talk to you. It's important." I leaned my back up against the closest locker that I could find. My brain was pounding in my head again. The headaches came more frequently when my moods were lower but I couldn't control the plummeting of my moods. One moment I could be content and then the next moment I was not.

"Well, what do you need to talk about? I'm working." Carlisle's voice was impatient but weary. He knew that I wasn't calling him for anything trivial. I wasn't going to waste his time. He knew that I never did anything without a purpose. I was the most calculated person that Carlisle knew. "Is it about Masen?"

"What else would I be calling you for?" I didn't give him a chance to answer to my sarcasm. The question was rhetorical anyway. "His plans are getting more and more defined. He's going to kill the girl and her friends if we don't do anything about it."

Carlisle knew exactly how I wanted to handle the situation. He knew that it was probably the only way that we could ever really stop him. "Edward, let's not make hasty decisions okay? How about we all talk about it?"

"What is talking going to do? We've talked to him plenty of times before." Carlisle was the one for reasoning but there was absolutely no reasoning when it came to my brother. I was the one for taking action."We need to kill him Carlisle. What other choice do we have?"

There was a charge of silence. Carlisle loved all of his children. He didn't want to hurt Masen but he would do what was best for everyone.

Killing Masen would cause him great pain. It would cause me great pain as well. I loved my brother with all of the heart I had left. Somewhere deep inside I wanted to believe that we was capable of more than destroying life but I knew better.

"When you all get home we're going to have a talk." Carlisle didn't allow me to respond. The finality inside of his voice ended the conversation before the sound of the dial tone did.

I sighed and let my irritation power the punch that I forced against the door of the metal locker next to me. The bell rang just a few convenient moments later and I started down the hallway to my next class. My mind was not anywhere near focused on school or on the talk that my family and I would have when we made it home.

My mind was filled with thoughts of a plan that I was going to have to formulate. I knew that this was going to be inevitable. The only person who was going to be able to stop Masen was me. Either I had to keep Bella away from him, which really wouldn't do much. If Masen lost interest in her he'd just move onto another human. So then that meant that I was going to have to do what we should have done a long time ago.

I was going to have to kill my brother...

**~T0B~**

The rest of my day was monotonous. School never seemed so long and drawn out before. I was not eager to get home but I did want to hear what Carlisle had to say to Masen and I was eager to see how Masen would respond.

Though I highly doubted it, maybe...he would listen this time.

After the last bell rang I walked out to the car alone. My siblings were already waiting for me when I got there. Bella and her friends were there as well.

The meeting was short. They confirmed their plans of the night. Bella was still coming over our house. She was still staying for dinner and her friends were still declining the offer to tag along.

We entered the car once all of that was settled. I was quiet during the ride home but the others talked of things that all normal teenagers often discussed.

The conversation was too normal for people like us because we weren't normal. We would never be normal. We didn't even have the right to try and pretend that we were.

Carlisle's car was already parked on the hill when we got home. I looked up at the luminous house as we made our way across the front yard. Our home was full of secrets, our home had a history, it was all gruesome. Everything about the Cullen's was dark.

Everything was gruesome...

We entered the house and our parents were already seated in the dining room. We didn't usually eat together as a family and so over the years we'd come to the tradition of using the dining room as the room where we held all of our meetings. Esme smiled at me warmly when her warm eyes laid upon me. I did not smile back at her but I did take the seat seat that she'd saved especially for me.

Somehow, I was her favorite and her least favorite.

"Hello, my love." Her lips touched my cheek in a warm gesture of endearment. I loved my mother but I did not pretend to hide the fact that she disgusted me. "Are you well today?"

"Oh, he is well mother." Masen allowed his darkness to enter the sound of his laughter. He sat on the arm of the couch across from us with an expression of pure nonchalance. His demeanor was carefree. "Edward is just being a little over-dramatic today."

"Over-dramatic?" I scoffed, a short bark of laughter following after. "Trying to save someone's life is over-dramatic?"

The green of Alice's irises rolled heavenward. She looked exactly how I felt : exasperated and fed up. "This is so like you Edward. You would rather save the life of a girl you barely know than your own brother?"

"Which life is really worth saving?" I asked wryly. Though my logic made sense no one would ever actually take the time to consider it. "Masen will only continue to kill more people. There is no place in the world for someone like him."

Alice sat down beside Masen. Her facial features were contorted in fierce protectiveness. In just a few seconds, I could see how much I had upset her. I did not understand why she was so adamant on defending him. She would probably give her own life to save him, but she didn't know that Masen would not do the same for her.

Carlisle shook his golden head. There really was no purpose in allowing Alice and I to bicker. We would probably go on back and forth for hours if we were given the chance. "Masen we have found you an alternative. Why must you insist on taking more lives?"

"Animal blood is like tofu." Masen said simply. His tone was ever so bored with this conversation. This was not going to change anything. It never changed anything. "And I'm not a vegetarian Carlisle."

"You're a fucking cannibal!" I bellowed, enraged by the fact that no one wanted to just end this completely. We could get this over with so quickly and then we could get back on with our lives. The world would be a better place without Masen here. "You kill humans and you eat them Masen."

"Yes." My twin nodded his head. We looked so much a like and yet we looked entirely different. We were so different and yet we were entirely alike. "But you must understand why."

"You were never meant to be this. You should have died that day Masen." There was a hint of softness in my voice for him, there was something there that proved I didn't entirely loathe him.

Everyone met my gaze at the mention of this. We rarely ever talked about that day. The day that Masen and I were born had to be the most detrimental day there ever was. It was such a sensitive subject to us that we never really thought to speak of it aloud.

Masen's face was expressionless. This was at least one of his weak spots. "But I'm alive."

"And you're not human anymore." My face was a mirror of his. My voice an exact replica. "You're unnatural."

"What if it were you Edward?" Emmett spoke up. He rarely ever engaged in these heated arguments that we all had so often. He was usually only in the background. I was shocked that he had challenged me with that question. "Would you want us to kill you?"

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I could hear Masen chuckling but the sound was very vague to my ears. I was looking at Emmett now. His expression was neutral. He was never the one to take sides. He was not with me or against me. So I suppose that he'd asked his question because he was simply curious of what my answer would be.

"There is a such thing as a right and there is a such thing as a wrong." My eyes hardened, so did the set of my mouth. "I would not let my emotions distort the way that I perceived them both."

"So, just because we loved you...you wouldn't want us to spare your life?" Emmett's tone was almost one of astonishment. He had not expected me to be so selfless.

"Not if it meant that others would suffer from it."

"Edward has a point." All eyes were turned towards Carlisle now. From beside him Esme let out an audible gasp. "We've given Masen several chances."

"That doesn't mean that we can just kill our son Carlisle." Esme's eyes were wide with fear. Her voice just about a step away from hysterical. She would never let anyone hurt Masen. "I can't believe you would even fathom the thought."

"We can't keep letting him go along on this path." Carlisle spoke with intelligence. He was the only one thinking here. "He is our responsibility Esme. There's blood on all of our hands from the people he's killed."

Esme recoiled. She wasn't listening to anything that Carlisle was saying. It didn't matter how much sense he was making. Her mind was set. Masen was her priority and that would never change. "I can't even begin to express how shocked I am at you Carlisle. What's come over you? Edward's views are understandable because he's just a child but you're actually considering killing our boy?"

"Don't worry mother." Masen's voice was easy. He wasn't taking any of this too seriously. We'd all had this talk several times before. It always ended the same exact way. "No one is going to hurt me."

His eyes locked onto mine. His mind wasn't as nice as his spoken words were.

_Don't fucking tempt me Edward. I will rip the girl's throat out as quick as you can blink your eyes. I'm getting sick of your constant whining._

"That's exactly why we need to dispose of you." I knew that he could feel my abhorrence. I knew that he could feel my love.

_It's not going to happen Edward. Carlisle will never be able to kill me. You'll never be able to kill me._

"Don't be so sure about that Masen." The other's did not bother us when we did this. They knew that we were having our very own conversations. It was as if we were the only ones in the room.

_I'm absolutely sure of it Edward. I would have killed Isabella yesterday if I weren't. _

If he would have killed Bella yesterday he would be significantly stronger right now and I wouldn't stand even the slightest chance against him.

_If I actually felt threatened I would kill her as soon as she walked through the front door today. You're not going to kill me Edward...at least not anytime soon. I'd be able to feel your decision before you made it._

The corner of his mouth lifted. His smile was dark and taunting. He was underestimating me and maybe that was where he would go wrong.

_I'll react as soon as I know that you're really trying to hurt me Edward and it won't be pretty._

Images of a girl that I'd once loved flooded his mind. Thoughts of how she tasted in his mouth, memories of how he'd felt no remorse when he'd killed her, and knowing that he'd do the same thing all over again. It was agony. Tremors of pain rippled throughout my entire body. Masen was the only one who could feel them.

Masen was the only one who could cause such a horrible feeling. He was the only person who would want to inflict something so excruciating upon someone.

His memories were so vivid. He held onto them for a reason.

_Lets wrap this meeting up and lets get back to playing our little game. Isabella should be arriving in a couple of hours. Esme needs to get dinner started._

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><p><strong><em>So yeah,<em>**

**_That was chapter five._**

**_Thanks for reading. Sorry for the late update. My life has been hectic lately._**

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	6. THE DINNER

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_**WARNING: THIS STORY IS RATED R FOR LANGUAGE, THEMES, AND LEMONS...**_

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><p>I did not realize that I was nervous about having dinner with the Cullens until I was standing on their front porch with my hand raised to knock.<p>

As I was standing there waiting for someone to answer the door, I could not help but wonder what I was more nervous about. The fact that I was about to go into one of the most alleged haunted houses in Washington state alone seemed oddly dull in comparison to the fact that I was about to meet Masen's parents.

I would have felt a little more comforted if Jazz and Rosalie could have tagged along. That way if I were to horribly humiliate myself they could have done something to advert the unwanted attention away from me or something.

I didn't really know that much about the Cullen's but if the parents were anything like their four children I had a feeling that tonight was going to be an exceptionally interesting night.

"Hey Bella!" Alice greeted me with a bright smile stretching across her glossed lips. "You're right on time. Esme just took the steaks out of the oven."

The aroma of home-cooked food was detectable even from where I stood and I was still on the porch. "It smells great."

Alice chuckled lightly and stepped aside to allow me entry into the house. "Esme's mother was a cook. She was in the kitchen with her mother a lot growing up so I guess that's why she's such a good cook."

Alice led us through the foyer and threshold into the living room. The house seemed ridiculously over sized now that I had the chance to journey through it without all of the rooms being crammed with alcohol-indulged teenagers. As we moved through the different rooms, I actually had a chance to appreciate the distinct fashion of the interior designing.

I could tell that the inside of the house had not been re-done in years. The furniture was mostly old, wooden, antiquated, and outdated. The carpets were a dark, blood-red color and made of some kind of old-fashioned velvet material. Most of the walls were covered in old, faded-white wall paper that peeled at the edges, and the curtain draping over the dust-encrusted windows were white, laced, and noticeably tattered.

The ancientness of the decor did not take away from the beauty of the house, instead it added to the quaint eeriness that you couldn't help but feel when you first stepped through the front door. The house was endearing in a way. It was exactly what I would expect from the Cullen's.

We turned down a narrow hallway past the living room, and I couldn't help but notice how the more we traveled away from the front of the house, the newer things started to look.

The floors transitioned from velvet carpets to shining wood floors. Instead of wallpaper the walls were bare but painted a faint peach color. We continued on down the circuitously curving corridor, towards the vague sound of hushed voices. The smell of food practically had me salivating by time we finally reached the dining room.

I had not initially paid attention to Alice's formal attire until I'd stepped into the lavish dining area and realized that I was horribly under-dressed.

The dining table was adorned with beautiful hand carved detailing and quality finished hardware. The table had not been set with dishes yet but there was a large candelabrum centered in the middle of the table. The glow of the flaming candlesticks was oddly the only light in the room.

Masen, Edward, and Emmett were already seated at the table. They'd seemed to be having a short conversation before Alice and I stepped into the room. All conversation ceased, four sets of eyes shifted towards me, and a blond-headed man that I did not recognize rose to greet me cordially.

"Hello Isabella." His tone was leveled in calmness. An aura of tranquility surrounded him as he took my hand inside of his in an uniform greeting. "How are you? I am Carlisle Cullen."

My shock from his youthful attractiveness made it somewhat impossible for me to respond to his question. In fact, we stood there for a couple of uncomfortable moments with our hands joined together while I stared at him in awe and awkwardly tried to find my voice.

"Um...I'm Bella?" My words slipped out in the form of a question before I correct their untimely deliverance.

"Yes you are." Masen said from where he sat. He seemed quite amused at my discomfort, there was a smile tugging on the corner of his lips when he spoke again. "Carlisle and Esme were thrilled with the news that we were bringing company."

My gaze made an abrupt shift from Masen's amused face to Carlisle. He nodded his golden head at me in agreement. "Esme went crazy preparing dinner for tonight. I hope you will enjoy it."

"I hope it wasn't too much trouble." I didn't want this dinner to be a big fuss because of me. They all didn't have to dress up so formally for my company. I looked down at my jeans and beat up converse before anyone could see the blood rushing to my cheeks.

Carlisle shook his head before squeezing my shoulder in assurance. "Nonsense. She was more than happy to show off for tonight."

"Take a seat." Alice's soprano voice said from behind me. I felt her soft hand briefly touching my back before she slipped past me to take the empty seat beside Masen. "Esme's just about done."

I moved to take one of the only other empty seats. I ended up between Emmett and Edward and across from Masen. Carlisle reprized his seat at the head of the table. There was only one seat left and I suspected that it was for Esme.

We sat down for a few moments. The room was mostly silent until a feminine voice called the boys into the kitchen from the other room.

"Dinner is ready." Carlisle stated with a small smile. "The boys should be bringing the food in soon."

"Do you want to help me set the table Bella?" Alice asked, with a polite curiosity laced within her voice. "Nothing fancy really. We're just getting the dishes out of the china closet behind you."

I nodded my head. I didn't really want to help her though. I was prone to clumsiness and accidents. There was no way I would ever be able to face the Cullen's again if I were the cause of their mother's priceless china shattering away from being dropped.

Luckily, Alice and I got the table ready with no problems and just when we were finishing up the boys came back into the room. All of them were carrying a distinct dish of food.

A caramel haired beauty, who could only be Esme, followed after them with a glass picture of what looked like lemonade.

Her kind eyes matched the color of her hair and they landed on me almost as immediately as she stepped into the room.

"Isabella Swan." Her voice was as faint as a whisper. The sound of it was truly beyond intriguing to my ears. I found myself severely interested in what she was about to say next but just because I'd get to hear her speak again. "I am so pleased that you could make it. We haven't had dinner guests in a while."

"Thank you for having me. The food smells delicious and your house is beautiful."

"Oh gracious." She allowed her small smile to grow and expand across her face. I could not fathom how every single member of the Cullen family ended up with the same ethereal beauty. "You're such a sweetheart Isabella Swan."

"Mother." Alice uttered wryly. There was a hint of playfulness in her tone as well. "I told you that she goes by the name Bella."

"Oh I..." I started to shake my head in disagreement.

"Bella." Esme answered, before I could complete my protest. She took her seat at the far end of the table on the other side of Masen. The smile warming her lips stayed fixated on her face. "Are you of Italian descent?"

"I have Italian in my blood but it goes far back. My mother and father both have ancestors from Italy but the culture wasn't passed down to them as children so it wasn't passed down to me."

"Have you ever gone to Italy before?"

"No." I answered. The food was beginning to be passed around. I received the bowl of potatoes and scooped some of them onto my plate. "The only place I've been besides Forks is to Jacksonville and that was years ago."

"That's a shame." Esme made a tsking noise. "There is so much more out there to see."

I received the steamed carrots from Emmett and passed them to Edward when I was done getting my helping. "So, you guys travel a lot then?"

"Oh yes!" Esme piped up, generously renewed in her excitement. "We vacationed in Europe last summer. It was an extraordinary experience. We've also lived in France for a time. We can't live in the same place for too long."

"Is that why you move around a lot then? Because you like to see different places?"

She was quiet as she considered her answer but only for a moment. "Among other reasons."

Edward scoffed from beside me, his expression entirely hard as he stared back at his mother with utter disrespect. He did not say anything to her and I was glad for that. Edward had a tendency to be deliberately harsh. His mother seemed so nice and delicate, I wouldn't want to see the way that she'd respond to his unkindness.

It seemed that his siblings and parents were so mild in personality. I could not understand how he ended up the way that he did.

The food had just finished being passed around the table and everyone had similar amounts of helpings on their plates except for Masen. I found it a little bit peculiar that he only had a kid-sized portion of food on his plate.

"Are you not hungry?" I asked, noting that most boys I knew consumed food like a garbage disposal.

"I don't want to eat too much and risk getting sick while you're here." Masen said. A bitter chuckle was following shortly afterwards. I seemed to have missed the joke he was trying to interpret with his words though.

"Oh." I looked down at my plate. I didn't have any expectations of them holding hands around the dining table to bless their food. They didn't. Without another word everyone simultaneously started to eat.

I could not deny that all of the food was scrumptious. I chewed slowly and tried to sort of watch everyone else without seeming weird. Although they were wonderful people the Cullen's could hardly point me out as the weird one here.

For the first ten minutes or so dinner was going unexpectedly well. I learned that the Cullen's were not the type of people who felt the need to fill silence with meaningless small talk. It was quiet all around the table but the quietness was not one of those awkward pauses where no one could figure out what to say. It was a natural, calm hush that we all decided to bask in.

"So Bella." Esme said in a light, conversation-starting voice. "I hear that your father is chief of the police."

"Yes." I replied, nodding my head. "There isn't a lot of crime that goes on in Forks though."

"That's a good thing dear." I remembered Masen telling me that crime was the reason they moved to Washington in the first place.

"Masen told me that you wanted to move away from Chicago because of all of the crime happening there."

Edward chuckled quietly to himself. "I told you not to believe everything that Masen says Bella."

"Shut up Edward." Alice's voice was more of a bark than anything. I could tell without a doubt that Edward and Alice did not get along at all.

"Be nice." Masen chided, his lips quirked at the corners. "We have to get along for our guest."

"I don't have to do anything for her." Edward made sure to settle his intimidating gaze on me when he said this.

"Damn Edward." Emmett spoke from my other side. It was the first time he'd said anything all night. I was startled by his booming voice. "Have a little respect."

Esme sent Emmett a reprimanding frown at his language.

"Respect?" Edward's tongue released the word like it was acid. "I suppose you all have respect for her then? You all know that if you had even the slightest ounce of fucking respect for her she wouldn't even be here right now."

Esme's loud inhale seemed thunderous in the silence that followed after Edward's quip. "Go to your room."

"What?" Edward's frown quickly transitioned into an expression of disbelief. His eyebrows rose vastly with his question.

"Go to your room." Esme repeated, her tone just as disapproving as it was the first time she'd murmured the words. "You're done for tonight Edward."

It only took about a second for Edward to explode. I had kind of figured that Edward had temperamental problems. Since I'd met him he'd been nothing but curt and moody. I had not imagined that his problems were so severe. He let himself get enraged so easily, and he did not quite know how to handle that anger.

His violent shove away from the table caused the clothed surface to quake with the roughness of his movements. It reminded me much of earlier today when he'd stalked out of the cafeteria at school.

"Sick." He snarled, I watched him take his plate of un-eaten food into his hands. "They're all fucking sick Bella."

"Edward!" Esme expression was a surreal picture of aggravation. "Put the plate down and go to your room! Now!"

"Fuck this." Edward threw the plate into the glass door of the china closet and both of the priceless antiques shattered to pieces. My mouth dropped open in shock while I watched him make his retreat out of the room.

The silence that followed after his departure was the awkward kind of quiet because no one could figure out what to say. For what seemed like an eternity we all just sat there waiting for someone else to break the silence besides ourselves. I kept my eyes down on my plate of food for the most part.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Bella." Esme was naturally the one to speak first. Her voice was full of exasperation, embarrassment, and remorse. "We told Edward to be on his best behavior. You must think the worst of us now."

"Oh no!" I proclaimed, frowning briefly as I tried to explain myself. "I understand teenage boys. I have some cousins who act just like Edward."

I may or may not have been lying to appease her. But a little lie to make things better was okay in the correct circumstances.

"You kids go on up to your rooms." Esme then proceeded to say. Her tone was tired with exasperation. Her dealings with her moody adolescent son had to happen very often. I could only imagine that she must get incredibly tired of them. "I have to clean this mess up. You can take your plates up with you if you want to continue eating."

"I'm finished." Masen declared as he stood to his feet, a small smile on his face despite the events that had just occurred. "What about you Bella?"

"I couldn't eat another bite." At Edward's childish display I had completely lost my appetite.

"Then shall we?" He gestured to the kitchen where I knew the staircase to be located at. "You remember where my room is don't you?"

I nodded my head, it wasn't as if I could actually ever forget.

The walk to the third floor was mostly silent. When we were inside of Masen's room, I decided to ask Masen the question that had been on my mind all night.

"Why does Edward dislike you so much?"

Masen's dark green eyes regarded me evenly, his mouth quirking up with humor. "Why do most teenage brothers dislike each other?"

I watched him take a seat on his sofa. His expression attentive on mine as he waited patiently for my answer.

"Jealousy?" The Cullen family did seem to favor Masen over Edward in all ways possible. I could see how Edward would become jealous because of that fact, but then again Masen was the sick one. It would only be logical for him to get a little bit more attention than everyone else.

"Among other things." Masen chuckled quietly. His delight seeming almost fiendish. "Perhaps those things are unimportant and that is why you don't need to know them."

"It seems like if I knew why he was so adverse towards you, then I'd be able to understand him more easily."

"Edward is full of complexities Isabella." Masen said this with pure placidness. "I should warn you now that actually figuring him out won't be worth the effort you would need to put forth in order to accomplish it. In all actuality, Edward is quite bland."

In all actuality, there was absolutely nothing bland about any of the Cullen's. I decided not to voice this opinion though.

"Did you enjoy dinner?" Masen's messy head tilted slightly with his query, his expression becoming consumed with amusement and curiosity.

"I did." I nodded my head. "But you all didn't have to get so dressed up. I didn't want Esme to think that I was finicky."

"She doesn't." Masen said, his expression was still amused and curious. "We don't usually dine together very often. So you have to understand that this was exciting to her. She wanted to go all out with the fancy china, the candles on the table, and the formal attire."

"It was all very wonderful. I've probably never had a dinner quite like that before." That was the absolute truth. The dinner that I shared with the Cullens' was the oddest dinner I've ever had the pleasure of sitting through.

A grin of satire began to take possession of the expression on his face. "That is great. Esme will be thrilled to hear that you enjoyed yourself. She might even want to invite you over for dinner again."

I opened my mouth to respond with the lie that I would definitely love to come back for dinner again, but the sound of piano playing distracted me for just a moment.

"It is only Edward." Masen said offhandedly, his stormy gazed locked onto mines with intent. "He only plays when he is upset."

I paused for a moment, carefully forming my words. "Would you um...would you be upset if I went to talk to him for a couple of minutes?"

Masen's face quickly shifted into shock, though a smile still managed to creep it's way onto his face. "Why of course not Isabella." His voice was a mirror of flippancy and the expression on his face reflected his amusement just fine. "Take as much time as you need."

Masen seemed genuine though I couldn't be sure if my decision to talk to Edward had really upset him or not. I started down the same long corridor that led me into the music room yesterday. The feeling of being watched was extremely heavy around me. The house was old, the history was alive, and the people who lived here now were just as much as a mystery as their relatives who'd been the original owners of this place.

My entrance into the music room did not disturb Edward's playing but I knew that he was fully aware of my presence here. After a moments of deliberation I decided to take a tentative seat beside him on the piano bench.

"Are you okay?" It was the first and foremost thing that I could think of asking him.

Edward's pale fingers continued to glide across the keys of the piano in concentration. The song that he was eliciting from piano could only be described as remarkable. Edward's musical skill was spectacularly profound. It was a wonder that he'd actually taught himself how to play so well. Then again Masen did say that Edward only played when he was upset. Edward always seemed to be upset. I imagined that he must have gotten a lot of practice over the years.

"What do you want Bella?" He said this, just when I'd begun to think that he wasn't going to acknowledge me at all.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. You seemed pretty upset at dinner."

"What gave it away?" He asked me sarcastically, I watched his fingers slow their travelling across the keys. The song grew exceedingly quieter.

"Why did you blow up like that anyway?" I willed my voice to stay calm. I did not want to set him off. I did not want him to think that I was judging him in anyway. "And why did you stalk out of the cafeteria in school today?"

I watched Edward's neutral expression contort into a mask of restrained anger. The change in his expressions were not subtle or hard to miss by any means. I could see just how quickly I had upset him.

"Bella, I'm getting tired of repeating the same thing to you over and over again. I'm starting to wonder if you're not a little slow at comprehending."

My gaze snapped up to his, my eyes narrowing at his purposeful insult. I did not consider the fact that upsetting me was exactly what he wanted to achieve. I willed myself not to react in anger. I tried to keep my voice mild when I finally calmed enough to respond to him. "Tell me again."

I was not surprised at his indifference towards my anger. He simply lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I cannot tell you here. Not when he is listening to every word that we are speaking."

"Who is listening?" My question asked itself before I could stop it. Of course I knew who Edward was referring to, though I could not understand how he could hear our conversation from all the way down the hall.

"Masen is listening." Edward's voice was clipped. His eyes dark with resentment. "I cannot talk to you here Bella."

"Then where?" I was curious. I wanted to talk to Edward. I wanted to understand him just a little bit.

"Anywhere but here." He answered quietly. His piano playing was coming to a stop. His focus was more on our conversation than his song anyway.

"What about tomorrow after school? Can we meet up somewhere to talk?"

Edward turned his head to look at me. His eyes seemed to look right through mines. His gaze held me captive. "Are you going to listening this time? Or actually take some of the things that I say into consideration?"

I nodded my head. I could no longer use my voice, not when he was looking at me so intensely.

"Then you can meet me in the library after the dismissal bell rings. I'll be there waiting for you. Don't disappoint me."

"I...I" I didn't really know what to say. Edward was looking at me so earnestly. I didn't really know what he was expecting from me. I couldn't help but believe that his words meant something deeper than I could comprehend right now. "I won't...but I'm just curious as to why you want to meet in the library."

Edward sat for a moment, pursing his lips. I could see that his next choice of words were going to be craftily chosen and deliberate. "Because I want to give you something."

My eyebrows rose in sequence to my shock. The look on my face alone gave away the curiosity that I was feeling. What could Edward possibly want to give to me?

"What are you going to give me?"

Edward's voice was faint when he answered me this time, but his words seemed to echo in this large space of a room. "I'm going to give you something that Masen won't." A frown deepened onto his face as he regarded me with attentive eyes. "I'm going to give you the truth Bella."

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><p><strong><em>That was chapter six. T<em>****_hanks for reading. _**

**_Please read and review._**

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**I HAVE ONE QUICK QUESTION FOR THE READERS : **

**What would you be more attracted to : Masen's charm or Edward's myteriousness?**


	7. THE TRUTH

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characterss...**

**I want to give a special thanks to everyone that has supported this story so far. All of you guys are awesome and you all are my inspiration.**

**I apologize that I haven't updated in a while. **

**But please continue to read.**

**READ AND REVIEW**

**XOXO**

**ATTENTION: THE FACTS ARE INACCURATE. I MADE THEM UP. IDK WHEN THE FIRST SATANIC CULT WAS MADE. THIS IS ALL FICTION AND COMING DIRECTLY FROM MY IMAGINATION.**

**NOTE: I CHANGED THE YEARS IN WHICH CARLISLE AND ESME MEET.**

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><p>"Do have plans for tonight Bella?" I looked up, glancing at Charlie, but only for the briefest of seconds before looking back down at my cooling breakfast. "I was thinking that we could get dinner at the diner tonight. You used to love going there as a child."<p>

I could barely focus on the fact that Charlie was speaking to me. He'd been sitting across the table from me for about fifteen minutes now, but there was nothing else processing in my head besides the fact that Edward wanted to meet with me in the library today.

I was anxious and apprehensive but my curiosity was still terribly profound. There was a little bit of fear stirring within me as well, I couldn't quite dispel the unfavorable feelings but they still did nothing to change the decision that I'd made. I was going to meet with Edward in the library today.

"I'm not coming straight home from school today."

"Well, that's perfect." Charlie's voice was pleasantly warm this morning. "I'm not getting off until around six. You should be here by then shouldn't you?"

I pushed the wasted plate of waffles towards my father, tightening the straps on my back pack before standing. It was just about time for me to start heading out for school.

"I'll meet you there. Have a good day at work dad. Be safe."

A small smile stretched onto his face, warming his expression just a little bit more. "I always am."

**~TOB!~**

"Did you have fun with the Cullens' last night?" Rosalie asked, as we walked towards our first hour class. We probably would have stood and waited for them to arrive again, but the weather outside was hazardous today. It was sleeting cats and dogs and Rosalie didn't want to mess up her hair.

She waited for my answer as we entered the classroom together. Her curiosity seemed to be peaked this morning but only because what we were talking about had to do with the infamous Cullens. Everybody was going ga-ga over them.

"It was just a regular dinner Rosalie." I didn't feel like getting all into detail about the night. I could have made it sound a lot more interesting but then she would have just kept asking me more questions. "I had a good time I guess."

"Did you give Masen a little extra dessert to eat?" Rosalie flashed me a playful smile, before winking and licking her lips very dramatically. "Or did he give you a cream pie perhaps?"

I turned my head to glance at her, the look on her face was one of supreme wryness. "Shut up Rosalie."

"What?" She lifted her shoulders in an innocent shrug. She could tell that she was getting on my nerves and she just loved it. "I'm just curious about what I missed out on."

"His parents were there for christ sake." I had to steal her signature for a second, my eyes rolled upward. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"I think you're a sexually starved teenage girl." She shrugged her shoulders again but this time more in nonchalance than in feigned innocence. "Join the club sister."

I laughed just a little. Rosalie was a total idiot. "What are you doing after school today?"

"My dad called us yesterday." Rosalie's voice radiated with excitement. Rosalie and Jasper hadn't seen their father in months since the divorce went through and they used to have a very close relationship with him. He tended to call them every blue moon and get their hopes up high with plans to spend more time together. Whenever it came time to do something he never seemed to pull through for them though. "He said that he's going to pick us up today and take us to see a movie or something."

I loved to see Rosalie get happy and excited. I knew that she really missed her dad, but I hated to see her disappointed afterwards when he failed to keep his word.

I gave her an easy smile, deciding not to voice my pessimistic thoughts. "That sounds like a lot of fun. Is Jasper excited too?"

"Oh, you know Jasper." Rosalie's violet eyes rolled at the mention of her twin. "He tries to act like he doesn't really care about anything. I know that he was really glad my dad called though."

"Well, when you see him tell him that I said hi." I hoped for both of their sakes that he actually showed up this time.

"What are your plans for today?" She asked, out of common courtesy. It wasn't like she actually cared though. "Another hot dinner date with the Cullens?"

"Nope." I pondered for a second whether to tell her about me meeting with Edward today. Rosalie was my best friend but I knew that she had a very bad track record of keeping things to herself. "Charlie wants to go out to eat at the diner."

"Cool, you haven't been able to spend time with the chief lately." The difference between Rosalie and I was that I never had a close-knit relationship with my father. He was always just kind of there to me but that didn't mean that I didn't love him. "Tell him that my mother wants you guys over for dinner soon."

"Okay, reminiscing about your mother's toxic food should make good dinner conversation for tonight."

"My mother is a lot of things." Rosalie said with a slight chuckle following afterwards, "But a good cook is damn sure not one of them."

"You should have been there to taste Mrs. Cullen's dinner." I was not joking when I said it was the best dinner that I'd tasted in my entire life. She should have taken after her mother's footsteps and became a chef herself. I was sure that she probably could have even opened up her own restaurant if she'd wanted to.

"She probably poisoned it. They want you to fall ill so they can perform some kind of gothic ritual on you."

I fell silent for a moment, looking at Rosalie but not really paying that much attention to her just to what she'd said. "I thought you said that you didn't believe in the stories of Hallow Hill."

"I said that they could be fake but I never dismissed the possibility." She said surely, violet eyes intent. "They may seem all nice and stuff but there is something strange about them Bella."

"What's so strange about them?" I didn't really need to ask, there were a lot of obvious abnormalities about the Cullen family and not just the obvious ones.

"Besides the fact that they always wear black and willingly moved into a haunted house?" Rosalie shrugged her shoulders sardonically, refusing to explain herself any further.

"You forgot the fact that Emmett Cullen totally resisted your Rosalie charm."

"Oh yeah." The corners of Rosalie's mouth turned downward, but only in a mock-frown. Her ego wasn't really wounded from Emmett's rejection. It wasn't like she couldn't have every other single boy who walked the face of this earth. "That too."

**~TOB!~**

First and second hour were blurs and lunch passed by quickly as well since I had to spend the entire thirty minutes finishing up a project for my biology class. I met up with Jasper and Rosalie at their lockers and they walked me to my third hour class like they usually did.

"We missed you at lunch today." Masen said, gazing at me as I slid into my seat beside him. There was a slight smile on his face but I could see that his smile was loaded with a ton of different emotions. I wasn't quite sure but I thought I even saw a trace of anger in that smile somewhere. "Where were you?"

"Oh, I was just in the library." I showed him the paper that I'd typed up. "Finishing up an extremely over-due project."

Masen nodded his bronzed head, wordlessly and slowly. "I see."

"So what did I miss out on? I can't see much happening with the life of the party being absent."

Masen awarded my little joke with a soft laugh, "Your blond friends were telling us of their plans to spend time with their father today, Emmett announced that the football coach asked him to stay after school for practice today, and Alice said that she's taking me with her on a shopping spree."

"Oh, that sounds like fun." Actually, going on a shopping spree with a little ball of energy like Alice seemed kind of overwhelming. "Are you excited?"

"For our one-thousandth shopping spree?" Masen's smile lifted just a little at the corners, but his sarcasm was not missed. "I'm absolutely ecstatic. Maybe you should come along with us. Alice would be thrilled."

The corners of his lips twisted into an even wider smile, almost as if he knew something funny that I was painfully unaware of. His dull green eyes watched me with intense patience, as I tried to figure out what the dark twinkling inside of them meant.

"Unless you had other plans." He proceeded to say, eyes briefly flickering across the class to where his twin brother sat silently. "Do you have other plans tonight?"

I knew that I couldn't tell Masen that I was planning on meeting with Edward today. The whole reason that Edward and I were going to the library was so that Masen wouldn't be near when Edward told me "the truth" to his family's secrets. I had a feeling that Masen wasn't all that unaware of my plans though.

"I'm going to dinner in Port Angeles tonight." To my credit, my answer was truthful. It was possible to not tell the whole truth without lying. "I've really been craving some berry pie."

Masen's brows lifted in interest, "Oh, really? Are you going by yourself?"

I shook my head, my tone completely level. "My father is going to go with me."

"Good." He seemed quite amused with my news, his lips quirking wryly before settling into a small smirk. "Wouldn't want a pretty thing like you getting hurt out there now would we?"

"There are some things even my father can't protect me from."

I watched the smile on his face drift away, and become replaced with some kind of thoughtfullness. "You don't know just how right you are Isabella Swan."

I turned my head slightly, to look at him. The thoughtful expression on his face did not change as his gaze sought mines out.

"You really have no type of self preservation do you?" His green eyes were less vibrant with warmth, but vibrant with a humor of some sort. "You should be careful with whose side you choose to be on."

"I wasn't aware that I was even making a choice." There was no doubt in my mind that Masen knew about the meeting Edward and I had arranged for this afternoon.

I watched him carefully, irises of his green orbs shrinking into something ominous. "Well, now you are."

"I can't help feeling a little bit threatened by your words Masen."

"You misunderstand." The corner of his lip twitched almost as instantly as words slipped between them. "I am not threatening you. Think of my words as a simple warning."

That was the average note that class ended on. Masen did not make an effort to communicate with me, but he also did not give me the impression that he would've refused conversation if I'd initiated it. He sat quietly to himself but with an impression that told me he knew something I did not.

My last two classes were neither more noteworthy than the other. I was more preoccupied with the discussion I would be having after school than with any discussions that may have gone on in class. I waited for Rosalie and Jasper by their locker when the final dismissal bell rang. I knew that they'd be eager to go meet with their father so I decided not to keep them waiting in the parking lot.

"Hey Bella." Jasper said, pressing his lips to my forehead in endearment. He smiled and reached past me to start getting the things that he needed out of his locker. "Did Rosie tell you that our dad called?"

I nodded my head, feigning a smile of excitement for him. "I hope you guys have a blast. You guys better bring me something good back."

"Of course." Rosalie said, voice coming into the vicinity as she approached. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't bring our favorite girl something back?"

"Now, that's what I like to hear." I joked, hoping dearly that their father would prove me wrong and show up this time. "It had better be edible and full of high fructose corn syrup."

"Okey Dokey." Rosalie pressed her own kiss to my cheek and they both bid me their goodbyes.

I did not hesitate any longer. There was no point trying to avoid the one place that was unavoidable. Even though I was nervous about what Edward claimed he had to tell me I was also interested. In fact, I was extremely intrigued with the idea of getting an insight on the mysterious lives of the Cullen family. Edward had to have the answers to at least some of my questions.

I was also equally intrigued with the idea of getting to connect with Edward. He was always so standoffish towards me. It was actually rather flattering that he'd agreed to meeting with me at all.

The library was almost fully vacant. There were only a couple of my school mates that decided to stay after school to use the library computers. I found Edward sitting towards the very back of the library. Everything about him looked more perfect the closer that I got to the table. There was a look on his face that I had not seen before.

It was something like hopefulness.

"Hello Bella." I was startled, the softness in his voice had been especially reserved for me. "How are you?"

My brows came together and lifted in the next moment. His pleasantness was not unwanted but a little bit confusing. I hadn't expected him to be so mellow. "I am fine. Thanks for asking."

"Aren't you going to ask how I am?" He regarded me with a playful seriousness, there was something very contagious about the wryness in his demeanor. "That would be the polite thing to do."

"Oh, of course." I rolled my eyes playfully, not fighting the small smile that stretched onto my lips. "How are you?"

"I am fine. Thanks for asking."

The smile on my face slowly fell, looking down into my hands I decided to cut to the chase. "You wanted to meet with me for a reason. I want to know the truth Edward."

"Do you?" He inquired, tilting his head to the side just a little. He and Masen had so many similar characteristics. I wondered if they knew just how alike they actually were.

"I'm sitting here aren't I?" I replied curtly, irritated that he would question my curiosity. "Why else would I be here?"

In the next moment things became very serious. His eyes locked onto mine, searching for something that I wasn't sure that he'd find. Almost a full two minutes passed between us before he decided to speak again. His voice was still soft. The volume would always be quiet but there was just a little bit of roughness to his tone. "I am going to be very upset with you and myself if you're sitting here wasting my time Bella. I'm only doing this for your benefit."

"I don't get it." I said, shaking my head, looking at him intently. "What am I in danger of exactly?"

Edward's eyes dropped to his lap or maybe to the floor. A flurry of emotions crossed each facet of skin on his face until there was only one expression left detectable.

"I'm going to ask you to do two things Bella. Only two." He continued to look down, but he knew that I was watching him. "Please keep everything that I tell you to yourself. Not for your benefit but for the sake of preventing anymore people from becoming liabilities."

I immediately thought of Jasper and Rosalie. I knew that I couldn't have it on my conscience if I was the reason for them possibly getting hurt. I still had no idea of this big threat that Edward was trying to keep me from though. "What else?"

"Just try to keep an open mind." Finally, he raised his gaze to look at me. There was something pleading in his eyes, something that was supposed to make me understand. "This world is full of possibilities that people like you are not supposed to know about. So please don't immediately dismiss anything that I say to you."

"Okay." I agreed, though I wasn't so sure if I'd actually keep my word. I was sometimes stubborn in my opinions. "I'll try."

Edward just looked at me for a few more moments. There was a trail of warmth on my skin that was left behind wherever his eyes went.

He was silent, dark eyes dropping again as he turned to fetch his book bag from behind his chair. I watched him rummage through the tattered bag for a few short seconds before he found what he was looking for and laid it upon the table for me.

It was another black book. Except this one was obviously a very old picture album. I had to wonder for a second how an old family album would be significant to me in anyway. Still, I took the book as he'd expected and flipped to the very first page.

The first picture that caught my attention was a very old, black and white photograph. It beheld the Cullen family. There was Edward and Masen standing beside each other looking so identical that I could not determine who was who. Alice stood in front of them since she was the shortest one. Carlisle and Esme stood behind the twins with Emmett on their side. They all harbored that Cullen beauty. Their attractiveness was not what originally caught my eye.

It was their clothes that stood out the most to me. Of course they were all dressed in what seemed to be darker colors but even the color of the fabric was not what had my brows raised. It was the style of the clothes that seemed extremely outdated. All four of the males were wearing three-piece tailor made suits. Hair combed in the neatest of fashion. While Esmé and Alice posed with their full skirts, seamed silk stockings, and elegantly draping shirts. Big flouncy hats sat upon both of their heads.

I followed the picture to its caption that read : **Cullens 1918**

My eyes slowly found Edward's. "What's wrong with the caption? It says 1918."

"It was taken in the year 1918 Bella." His voice was slow with explaining, though his explanation didn't actually register in my brain as acceptable.

"Well, that's impossible." I claimed, studying the picture once again. "You would be at least a hundred. Isn't this you in the picture?"

Edward nodded his bronzed head once, messy tendrils completely contradicted the message that he dared display in his mysterious family photo.

"Then how was it taken in 1918?"

"I was born in 1901 Bella. Masen and I were seventeen on that picture, Alice was a year younger, and Emmett was a year older."

I took one moment to question the entirety of Edward's sanity. There was only one way that these replicas in the black and white photo could actually be them, and that was if they'd all found the secret to miraculously halting the aging process. I couldn't let myself lower my standards of beliefs into accepting this.

I shook my head, refusing his explanation rather close-mindedly. "How do you expect me to believe that you are a one hundred year old man Edward? Is this some kind of twisted joke?"

"I don't joke very often Bella." He replied, tone dripping with condescension. "You should take note of that fact. I'm only trying to save your life"

"Then explain this to me." I insisted, not wanting him to change his mind in talking to me. I had agreed to keep an open mind with him and that was just what I was going to do. When he was done with his silly explanations then I would decide whether or not his story was totally bogus.

Edward studied me for a few lasting seconds, watching for a clue that would tell him that he was wasting his time with me. I gave him no such indication that I wasn't going to listen to him with open ears. His eyes then proceeded to fall back into his lap. I almost thought that he wasn't going to say anything at all anymore.

"My father Carlisle was born in the year 1640, during a time of religious upheaval. This was the time when people were seeking out vampires, witches, demons, and any other kind of people that were transpiring against the Protestant church. People were expected to believe in the same religion as their monarch or they'd be considered disloyal."

"And people who were found disloyal were sentenced to death." I replied, seeing that my world history class had sort of paid off in a way.

"Yes." Edward confirmed quietly, glancing at me with slight humor. "You took the words right out of my mouth Bella."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, trying to ignore my profound disbelief. If Carlisle had been born in 1640 he'd be well over three hundred years old and the blond haired man I met yesterday did not look a day over twenty-three.

"Carlisle's family had a history of dabbling with unholy practices. That made the self-proclaimed witch hunters watch him and his family a little closer. His father was a priest so that made it hard for the people to accuse them of anything. Little did they know, Carlisle's father was also a leader of one of the first satanic cults ever created."

Edward reached across the table, slender fingers trailing over the edge of the photo album before flipping the page. The picture that he wanted me to look at was filled with people of several different genders, race, and age. They were all dressed in delicately flowing, black robes and stationed around an altar of some sort.

"Satanism was not the only practice my grandfather participated in. He was also a jewelry maker. Many had their beliefs that he was an alchemist. Do you know what that is?"

"Someone who changes metals into gold?"

"Well, yeah." He said, telling me with his tone that my answer hadn't been quite what he was hoping to hear.

I knew only of one more thing concerning alchemy and the purpose of it but I had only ever seen it on television before. It hardly seemed plausible or relevant to this conversation. But then again nothing that Edward had said since I'd taken my seat seemed very plausible or relevant. My head was still reeling from his claim that he was born in the early nineteen hundreds, not to mention that his father was supposed living during the reign of King Charles.

"I also heard that alchemists used some sort of philosopher's stone that possessed the power to create an elixir of life."

Edward nodded his head, now seemingly satisfied with my answer. "My grandfather was only one of the few who was actually successful in the completion of the elixir. A lot of people ended up getting charged for witchcraft. A lot more ended up poisoning themselves. My father was the first human being to ever drink the immortality potion."

"What about your grandfather?" I asked curiously, ignoring the chill that was starting to cool my bones.

"He was murdered." Edward replied, voice flat with no emotion whatsoever.

I stopped to consider whether or not I should pry more into his business than what he was willing to share. I decided that I'd come here for a reason. I was going to get the answers to my questions or all of this would have been for nothing. "By the church?"

"No, he was murdered by people who were after the elixir." Edward did not seem to have a soft spot when talking about his deceased grandfather. Edward did not seem to have a soft spot about anything. "He knew that people would be after him once the rumor slipped out. That was why the only other person he'd taught how to make the elixir was my father. After my granddad died Carlisle was left absolutely alone. He spent the next two centuries on his own. He studied the arts and science. Coaxing himself into becoming the most brilliant doctor alive."

"He must have been lonely." I concluded, cringing at the very thought of solitude for over a century.

"Yes, besides the patients that he worked with. Anyone that he ever befriended eventually grew old and died, while he would forever be stuck in the body of a twenty-three year old."

"What about Esme?" I remembered the caramel haired beauty very vividly. She was so polite and welcoming. I could not help but feel a warmth of like for her.

"Oh, he met my mother in 1896. She'd been assigned as one of his patients at the hospital. He was working in Columbus at the time." Edward showed me a picture in the album of Esme and Carlisle. The two of them looked very happy together. I could all but feel their love radiating through the photo. "My mother had been admitted into the hospital from a suicide attempt. She'd grown depressed after her abusive husband had caused her to have a miscarriage. She told me that she hadn't cared about Carlisle's background or religion. She claims to have fallen in love with him the moment that she laid eyes on his face."

"Carlisle must have felt the same." I had no doubts that Edward's father was head-over-heels for Esme. What man would not be? She was the perfect wife and mother.

"I guess so. They got married a year after they met. She got pregnant three years later."

I knew Emmett Cullen to be the eldest out of the four children. "With Emmett?"

"Yes and they were so thrilled. Carlisle couldn't have been a prouder man." I could see maybe a hint of a smile on Edward's face. I had to wonder where it came from. Endearment for his father perhaps. "The pregnancy was without any complications and my mother gave birth to a healthy baby boy."

There was a picture of Carlisle and Esme posing with their newly born son. The three of them looked perfect together but not quite complete. "You and Masen came next then?"

Any smile that I might have seen on Edward's face was gone now. Any traces of it ever being there had vanished. There was nothing of pleasantness on his face now. The change in his expression was startling almost.

"Eleven months later they learned that Esme was pregnant again. They were just as excited as the first time maybe even more when they found out that they were having twin boys."

"The pregnancy must not have gone smoothly then?" That was the only conclusion that I could have come up with, though the complications couldn't have been that bad if Edward and Masen were both here today.

"Esme started to get sick about three months into the pregnancy. She came down with a severe case of pneumonia." Edward's voice had lowered considerably and I could see that this was a heavy topic for him to discuss. "She was mostly concerned with the health of her two unborn babies. Carlisle struggled to keep all of us alive. By the time the seven month came around, Esme's health hadn't progressed and Carlisle decided that he was going to have to deliver us early. They were living in Italy at the time."

"What happened?" I asked, unable to contain my anxiety. His answers were like the drug that I was addicted to. The more information I got out of him however, the more frightened I could feel myself becoming.

"Carlisle was able to deliver me. My heart rate was dangerously low but I was relatively healthy other than that."

"What about Masen?" He had to have overcome whatever had ailed him from being healthy at birth.

"My father discovered that Masen had already died inside of the womb when it had come time to deliver him. My mother as well as Carlisle were stricken with grief from the thought of losing their son. They went to drastic measures in order to save him."

Edward showed me another picture in the album. Three men stood in front of a glorious building, posing in hooded red robes. One of them had chalky white skin that was almost identical to the color of his hair. He looked like an angel with dark intentions. The other two men were both dark haired. One of them looked regal and young, the other lacked youthfulness.

"They are called the Volturi. They were known in Italy for their practices in dark magic. They could make anything possible for a person...but only for a price."

"How did they help bring Masen back to life?"

"Carlisle called them for their help in exchange for immortality. They claimed to know of a way to bring life back into Masen's body. They were users of dark magic though. You must understand that the forces behind dark magic are evil Bella. Their plan to save Masen was by performing a ritual called "Più Vita". It would awaken the spirit of a demon and invite it into Masen's body."

"The ritual worked?" I could feel my insides closing in on me. There was so many things rushing through my head, body, and heart. I could not distinguish the fear from the disbelief anymore.

"Yes, but at a cost." Edward said lowly, looking down at his hands again.

"What do you mean?"

When Edward's eyes flitted back up to mine there was a sadness displayed in his expression. "I want you to understand that Masen died Bella. His essence and spirit no longer exists in this world. His body is only a vessel in which the demon lives through. He is not the son that Carlisle and Esme lost all those years ago. He is a monster. He does not survive like we do."

I could feel everything inside of my body stiffening, my ears longing to close so I would not have to receive the information that I was expecting. "How does he survive?"

"Since Masen is not actually alive, the demon inside of his body needs life source to keep himself nourished. He can only stay satiated by draining the source of life out of creatures that actually behold it. He can get it from animals or humans."

This was not happening inside of my life. This had to be a dream or a nightmare.

"Hold on Edward." My head was reeling, almost to the point where it hurt to think. I wanted to shut this conversation out of my mind and shut Edward out of my sight. The chills that were taking over my frame rose the hairs on the back of my neck. The scary part was the fact that I'd stopped doubting Edward's story a long time ago. "How does he drain the life source out of these living creatures?"

"He eats them Bella." I could see no traces of anything but sincerity on Edward's face. "He's not human which means that he is not limited to the natural qualities of a human. Masen is much faster and stronger than an average person. He can wrestle with a bear and not get himself killed. If he his physically hurt his body regenerates within seconds. He can tear apart the flesh of a human with his bare hands and he will devour everything inside of their bodies except for their bones."

A silence fell between Edward and I. He watched me carefully, seemingly satisfied with my reaction of this all. I was beyond scared. I was practically about to burst into tears.

"He has plans for you Isabella Swan." Edward said my name in such a cold manner, I could not help but to shiver. "Masen wants to kill you. There are two reasons why you are still breathing right now."

I could feel my stomach dropping. I had never been more afraid in my entire life. "W...what?"

"Masen usually picks someone and kills them immediately. He does not discriminate. He chooses victims by the ease in which he can lure them in...most of the time."

"But not this time?"

"When we moved from Chicago my father put Masen on a very strict diet. He has monitored Masen nonstop to assure that he does not kill anyone else. After the brutal aftermath we left behind, Carlisle could not stand to have the blood of innocents on his hands any longer. The only thing that he can consume is meat from animals or substance that Carlisle brings home from the blood bank"

"I don't understand how this has saved my life." I shake my head, trying to gain an understanding.

"Masen is much weaker now. I know that you've witnessed how ill he becomes at certain times." Edward's eyes regarded me steadily, voice reaching my ears in a patient octave. "What he is eating now only keeps him alive barely. He's at a point where he can no longer overpower his prey. He can only lure them into a trap where he can kill them without much effort. He uses Alice sometimes to help him bait people."

"But he's had me in a situation where he could have certainly taken advantage of me." I remember back to the day of the party. He'd been so close to me. He could have killed me then and I wouldn't have been able to see it coming.

"His weakened state is only one of the reasons Bella. I said there were two." Edward showed me one last picture in the book. He and Masen stood beside each other, both smiling and vibrant. One of them had there arm over the other's shoulder and you could tell that these two identical boys cared about each other. "Masen likes to play these sick little games with me. I try to save a victim and he tries to kill them. He always wins Bella no matter what."

"So, you're saying that he is going to kill me?"

Edward shook his head. The determination on his face gave me a little bit a hope. "I'm giving you my word Bella. I will do everything that is in my power to make sure that Masen does not hurt you. You just have to trust me."

That was a lot to ask of me. Though, I realized that trusting Edward was not an issue. I felt safe around him and I believed in everything that he claimed to be the truth. "I...I do trust you."

"You have to use this gift that I gave you wisely. Masen is cunning Bella. He's dangerous. There is nothing more true than that."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it took so long for the update.<strong>

**I love all of the supporters.**

***What do you think of Masen now?**

***Do you think Bella will take heed to Edward's advice? Or is Masen just too clever for them both?**


	8. THE MANIPULATION

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters...**

**I want to give a special thanks to everyone that has supported this story so far. All of you guys are awesome and you all are my inspiration.**

**I apologize that I haven't updated in a while. **

**But please continue to read.**

**READ AND REVIEW**

**XOXO**

* * *

><p><strong>MASEN POV<strong>

"He is such an asshole." Alice snapped, anger filling every single crevice on her face. Her lips then curled into the cutest of pouts. I would probably mistake a bunny rabbit for a snarling beast before I could actually let myself consider Alice as intimidating. She did not find the same kind of humor in our brother's actions as I did. In fact, Alice proceeded to hate Edward even more after the enlightening talk that he'd decided to have with Isabella Swan this afternoon. "He does not care about anyone else in this family besides himself."

"Alice." I said, not resisting the smirk that my lips wanted to lift into. "Edward thinks that he is doing the right thing. Lets allow him to feel good about himself."

"Fuck that." Tiny fists slammed their fury onto Esme's marble countertops. I could see that Alice was absolutely livid at this point, but her anger was only as endearing as Edward's self-righteousness was funny. "When everybody gets back home we are going to have a very impromptu family meeting. There is no way that Edward is getting away with that little stunt he pulled."

**~~~~TOB**

An hour later my mother and father had both returned from their jobs, Emmett's football practiced had been released, and Edward had finished his little talk with Isabella. Now the six of us were stationed around the dining room, preparing ourselves for the disagreements that were sure to occur before the night was over.

My eyes sought out those that were identical to my own. I found them narrowed and across the room, belonging to the boy that stood quietly and to himself. He was already defensive and sure, just waiting on someone to challenge him for the actions that he made this afternoon. The humor was quite profound on my end seeing as a little human child was the cause of all this confusion inside of our household.

_Do you think that you've saved her somehow?_

His green orbs did not hesitate in the slightest when it came to meeting mine. There was so much abundant hatred beheld for me within his expression. I almost felt an urge to shudder from the intensity of emotion, but even my dear brother's ill feelings were not enough to intimidate me. Not in the slightest.

"At least she'll try to stay away from you now."

Four pairs of distinct eyes glanced at Edward, needing only a second to understand that he was talking to me.

_I'll find her. _

My lips twitched. The mere thought of Isabella's blood was sufficient in coiling my stomach into painful knots. Edward sneered at the hunger I presented for him and I could feel his anger bubbling, boiling into a certain state that was almost incomprehensible.

_You cannot do anything to save her Edward. In fact, all you have done is put her in more danger. Beware the wrath of our little sister._

Edward's gaze bypassed my own, ignoring me completely. He chose to focus his attention on Alice instead.

"What is your problem Alice?" He asked, demanding an understanding from her that he would not receive. "You have to know that I only did this for her own good."

"That was not your decision to make." Alice replied balefully, holding nothing but contempt near her heart when it came to Edward. Her eyes were sure and similar to my twin's in more than one way. "You've put our entire family at risk. We definitely cannot allow her to live with the information that she knows. You have practically caught and trapped Masen's prey for him this time."

"Masen is not going to touch her." Edward made this very clear. He was determined to stop me at all costs. His resilience only made our little game that much more interesting. He had to know that he fueled my ambitions the more he put forth his own energy in trying to save her. It was only just a game. "I will not allow it."

"Then I will do it." Alice challenged, a fire inside of her eyes that surprised everyone in the room besides myself. I knew exactly what she was capable of. She was the most beautiful of monsters. The most monstrous of beauties. She was my prodigy in the making, in time I believed that she would even become worse than me. "It would only be setting things right. It's nothing personal."

"You're not going to touch her Alice. She is an innocent." Edward glared at her, sickening himself from the thought of fighting against his sister; but not willing to give up on his decision. "Don't you have enough blood on your hands already?"

"Well, what do you think Esme?" Alice asked, turning to look at our caramel haired mother. Alice wanted to get the opinions of all our family members. I had my doubts that anyone else was as upset as she was though. The only reason she was so angered was because she simply did not like Edward and everything that he did to make her mad was always slightly dramatized on my sister's part. I didn't care though because it amused me all the same. "Edward has made a decision that affects the entire family without consulting any of us. It is only fair that we all get to agree on how we must handle this situation."

Esme did not like being put on the spot. She did not want to agree with any one person and ultimately choose against the other. Her main priority was to keep her family together and healthy. My mother glanced at all our her four children. I could see the equality of love that she felt for us. It would probably break her heart to admit out loud, but it was evident that she had already decided to agree with Alice and I.

"She has become a liability now." Esme proceeded to say, keeping a firm glance on Edward. Her face saddened at the glare that he wore especially for her. "Is it really safe to give her the responsibility of beholding the information that she knows?"

"She will not say anything." Edward insisted quickly, confident in his assumption. "I know that much."

"You've only just met her a few days ago." My mother reminded him, shaking her head at his naivety. She would not trust anything that could propose a possible threat to any one of us. "How can you be so quick to judge her character honey?"

"What about you Emmett?" Alice asked lightly, more fond of this brother than the other. She seemed sickly satisfied with Esme's answer. "How would you like to handle this situation?"

Emmett was the oldest of us all. He was maybe the most mature in certain ways as well. He rarely engaged in these heated arguments that we had so often, but instead went along with whatever the winner's idea ended up being. I was not so sure how much of a conscience he really had since he never showed any type of emotion towards what I did to survive. He was simply indifferent. More like me than any of my other family members.

Emmett looked at Alice casually. I could see that he had a very minute amount of interest in this conversation altogether. "I think that we should wait to see if the Swan girl will actually pose as a threat. For right now she seems harmless."

Alice pursed her lips. She was not happy with his answer but she did not condemn him for speaking it. She simply nodded her head and turned towards Carlisle. We all knew what side of the fence he was going to be standing on.

"Edward has a point." Carlisle said, ruining the only real entertainment that I've had all day. Now would probably be the best time to rip his throat right out. My eyes narrowed slightly at the influence that he withheld over this group as a whole. No one would go against him after he made the final decision. Not even Alice. I hated him to the very core. "Isabella Swan is an innocent young girl. Murdering a blameless child in cold blood does not sit right with me. I will not allow it."

"What about Masen?" Alice inquired, fuming but accepting the fact that she had lost. She loved me but she respected her father just a little bit more. "Is it just okay for him to die? Why doesn't anyone ever consider him anymore?"

"Masen is fully capable of surviving on a vegetarian diet Alice."

I made a scoffing sound at his absurdity, he was mistaken if he thought that I was fully content with the idea of living off of deer blood or the bullshit that he could snag from the blood bank at hospital.

"But no one has consulted me yet." I proceeded to say, letting the irritation in my voice be evident. I looked at my father. "What would I like to do to handle this situation?"

"Oh, we all know what you'd like to do Masen." Edward growled, glaring at me balefully. "You just want to add her to your list of victims."

I controlled my expression very carefully, not letting his ridiculousness fuel my humor. At the moment I wanted to be just a little bit serious. "I am not satisfied with the lifestyle that I've been forced to convey."

"I don't see what much we can do to ease your dissatisfaction Masen." Carlisle said firmly, looking at me with a stern expression. He was wrong if he thought that he could control me. His authority meant nothing to me. "Unless you have come up with a better alternative."

"My alternative?" I pondered wickedly, smirking just a little at my most adamant opposers. Edward and Carlisle were so strict on me now because they were dreading that I decide to go on another killing spree. Chicago was just a lesson for Edward and now Forks will be too. "Is to screw what you and Edward say. I'm done playing by your rules Carlisle. If Edward can break them so can I."

"What rule did I break?" My twin demanded, but already fully aware. He was even more angry to see that this meeting only defined my plans even more. I was done pretending like Carlisle's and Edward's opinions actually mattered to me. "You're so full of shit Masen."

"We swore to never speak of our family history." Alice reminded carefully, a hint of triumph playing at the edge of her demeanor. "That's why they are called family secrets. They are meant to be kept within the family."

"I told you Carlisle. He's never going to stop!"

"I'm done being this weak submissive." I declared, staring down my disapproving father. His expression was pained. I could see the love that he harbored for me written across every facet of his face, but I could also see the good that was instilled inside of him. I was not so sure if he would jeopardize his character for me. But that did not matter very much. Once he tried to oppose me I would not hesitate to end him. "I don't really care what you and Edward decide to do about it. I am a predator, I pick my prey, I kill them, and then it is over. It is up to you two if you decide to interfere. I am not playing fair anymore."

"I'll never give up." Edward insisted, arms crossed and sure. He would battle me until the end. He would kill me if he actually had the means to. That was a pity considering the fact that I loved him. If Edward was on my side we could be the two most lethal individuals alive. I could show him the life through the eyes of a person who got whatever they wanted. I could show him what it was like to be uninhibited and free. He used to share that with me. Sadly, he'd forgotten the person that he used to be. "I don't care if I die trying to stop you."

"It shouldn't have to end that way brother."

"You're a monster Masen." He shook his head at the sight of me, seemingly disgusted. A display that I had seen from him far too many times before. It was getting old pretty quickly. "You'll never stop."

"Not until someone stops me."

**~~~~TOB**

The meeting was not a big success for neither Alice or Edward. It did good to enlighten the others of my plans though. The only thing that Carlisle and Edward could do to stop me was kill me. I had extreme doubts that either one of them were capable of that.

"Where are you about to go?" Alice asked curiously, wide eyes watching me as I slipped my arms through the sleeve of my coat. "Hunting?"

I shook my head, dismissing her assumption. I smiled at my sister calmly. "Not yet."

"Are you going to continue to play this stupid game with Edward?"

"Only until I get tired of it. I'm not quite ready to kill Isabella Swan yet." I replied, grabbing my car keys off of the counter. If it had been under normal circumstances I would have been able to move faster than any car could go on my own two feet. I was anxious with the anticipation of being restored back into my old self. The fatigue would disappear, the sickness would disappear, and the dull appearance would disappear. I would be the indestructible entity that I once was.

"Are you going to pay her a visit tonight?" A wry humor glinted across the dark of her eyes, brows lifting infinitesimally with her question

"Sister, you know me all too well." There was a dark smile of my own that I felt forming on my lips. "I want to see just how much Edward has turned her against me."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to say whatever needs to be said to earn her trust back." Something like determination flashed throughout me, before I leaned forward to place a goodbye kiss on my sister's soft cheek. "And eventually, I am going to claw her heart out of her chest and devour it."

"Good luck brother." Alice chuckled, wishing me the fortune that we both knew I did not need when it came to Isabella. "I know you won't need it."

**~~~~TOB**

Minutes later I was seated inside of the Volvo that our parents forced the four of us to share amongst each other. It wasn't as if we did not have enough money for all six family members to have individual cars. After centuries Carlisle had accumulated close to the billions in money and other finances. The only reason that we could not all have our own cars in Washington was because we were portraying the lives of a moderate middle-classed family. The Volvo and Carlisle's BMW were already far-fetched enough.

It did not take a lot to figure out where someone lived in such a small town like this. I could have easily called Rosalie and Jasper to inquire the information of Isabella's home location. They would have surely given it to me. I did not have to go through the process of doing that however, because Isabella had made the mistake of showing me where she lived the day that I offered to drive her home after she'd failed to find her blond friends at Alice's party.

The girl was too naive for her own good. She did not know that every single move I made was extremely measured. I'd wanted to drop her off for a reason. It only took one glance of her house to calculate exactly how many floors, windows, and doors I could access if I ever had the desire. I knew the complete layout of her entire home almost immediately, so well that I could definitely navigate throughout the perimeter in complete darkness. There would be no place that she could hide from me at. That was all her fault.

Isabella lived about fifteen to twenty minutes away from the manor. Her neighborhood was quiet and perhaps in the lower middle-class range. It was to my understanding that her parents were divorced which meant that her family's only source of income was from her father's policeman salary. I parked the car a few houses down the street from the one that I was headed to. I was quite surprised to see Isabella herself just pulling into her driveway. Then I remembered that she'd claimed to have dinner plans with her father this evening.

I guess that she did not tell me a complete lie...

I walked at a steady pace, staying within the shadows that adorned the edges of the streets. This particular neighborhood did not have very many street lights. The only real source of light came from the illuminations of the moon and the few houses that had their porch lights turned on. This was not much of a problem for me. I could still see in the dark despite the case of my debilitating health.

There was a small smile that crawled onto my face when I was close enough to see Isabella checking all of her surroundings before she exited what she thought was the safety of her vehicle. She seemed satisfied with the lack of danger around her and proceeded to walk to her house in an unhurried manner.

My footsteps were beyond silent as I followed her. She had no sense of an entity behind her and she gave no second thought to turn around to check for her mistaken safety. She carried on towards her porch, pulling a key out from under a mat, and unlocking the screen door and front door. I decided to choose that particular moment as an opportunity to show myself. Isabella had safely entered her house, pausing for a moment to shut her front door. I watched the confusion forming on her face as it occurred to her that something had obstructed the door from closing completely.

It all happened in what seemed like slow motion. When she'd looked down, she witnessed the foot that had been the obstruction. Slowly, paling, she brought her widened eyes up. I decided in that moment that I liked the look of fear on her face. It made her even more delicious.

"M...Masen?" Her lips trembled as my name left from between them, I could see that she was absolutely terrified of me. Her fright did something to amuse me. My own lips trembled in the effort to stop a smile from forming on them. "What are you doing here?"

"To see you of course." I replied, head tilting to the side, watching the quick contemplation of her next actions churning inside of her head. She had to know that she was no match for me, even in my weakened state. "Are we not on friendly terms anymore Isabella?"

"I know what you are." Her demeanor remained shaky, and I could hear just how quickly her heart was beating against her chest. She tried to conjure up some sort of bravery. I was more than ready to hear the accusation that she would throw at me so freely. I had no doubts that Edward spared her no details of my nature. "I know what kind of creature you are Masen...Edward told me everything."

"Why Isabella, aren't you going to invite me in and tell me of this news that you've learned? It really is rude to keep a friend waiting outside in the dark."

"You are not a friend of mine." She snapped, brown eyes narrowing. Looking for an escape route that she would not find.

"So, you're not going to invite me in?" I asked curiously, peering at her from under thick lashes. Her heart rate increased a little more and not from the fear of me standing on her porch.

"Do I even have a choice?"

"Yes, but if you don't make the right one then I will proceed to choose for you." I leaned forward, hand grabbing the door knob on the outside of the door. "Making the wrong choice could get a pretty girl like you hurt. Especially when there is no one around to protect you. Where is your father Bella?"

"He got called in on duty." She said carefully, maybe mistaking my inquiry as an interest to track her father down. He was not a part of this game and so he was not even remotely close to being significant enough for me to track down. The only way that he would become one of my victims was if he tried to impose on my plans with his daughter.

"And left his princess all alone?" I shook my head slowly, making a tsking sound that proceeded to narrow her eyes even more. "That's not such a good idea. Don't you think?"

"What do you want from me?" She cried, loudly enough that a neighbor might hear if they were listening. Isabella had better measure her actions. I didn't count her as the type that could live with the guilt of being the reason why someone else had to die. I would just love for one of her nosy neighbors to come barreling up her driveway. It would give me an excuse to have a late night treat. On her behalf of course.

I smiled at her calmly. "I want you to let me into your house."

She did not see much of another choice. It surprised me that she did not even attempt to push me out of the doorway or perhaps try to make a run for it. Any other idiotic human would have used their survival instincts in a situation like this, but Isabella did not have any ingrained behavior patterns that would aid her in survival. She was completely and utterly helpless.

She stepped aside, allowing me the entry that I would have taken with or without her permission. The house was dark. Pitch black almost when the front door shut behind us. Isabella was visibly afraid to make any movements, though I would have expected her to maybe flee up the staircase that we were stationed beside. She looked up at me, shaken and at awe with the way my eyes glowed in the darkness.

"A...are you going to kill me Masen?"

I chuckled to myself, reaching out to touch the pulse beneath the skin of her neck. She tried to move away from me but I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. Her eyes widened with fear that did not prompt tears to fall. Her breathing only increased, and her skin paled even more.

"If I was going to kill you..." I began, maneuvering her backwards until her back hit the wall adjacent to the staircase. "You would have been dead already."

This did nothing to calm her down. She still believed that she was in grave danger. I did not want to completely expel that thought from her head but I wanted her to at least think that she could trust me for right now.

"Edward told me that you're planning on murdering me. He told me that you were playing a game with him."

"It's to my knowledge that Edward told you a lot of things." I ducked my head, lips touching the crevice of her neck. I could feel her shuddering in more than just fright. My lips turned into a smile against her skin. "Did you believe all of those things?"

"I had no reason not to." She proceeded to say, voice breathy. She made no moves to get me away from her. This sick masochistic girl was afraid of me killing her but was begging silently for me to touch her. "It seemed very true."

"Perhaps most of it was." I opened my mouth, letting my tongue slide across the width of her neck. Dipping to taste her collarbone as well. Fingers grasped my hair but still made no move to get away from me. "It couldn't have all been true."

"What about the part about you being born in 1901?"

"True." I answered, sucking the skin into my mouth. I imagined that I could almost taste the blood beneath it. It did wonders to my body, almost as much as her arousal did.

Her eyes closed, I could feel her relaxing against me. This girl was quite sick in the mind. It delighted me. "What about the immortal elixir?"

"True." I replied, moving my hips towards hers. She gasped softly at the feeling of me against her. I wanted to ravish this girl in more than one way, and I was sure that she'd just let me do it.

"What about the ritual?" She allowed a hand to drop from my hair, sliding it between us to feel one of the types of hungers that I possessed for her. A growl slipped from between my lips that excited her, she did the opposite of what I thought she'd do. She pushed herself against me fully, grabbing me between her hands and squeezing lightly.

"True." I said truthfully, pushing myself into her hands more profoundly. The ache in my pants and the ache in my stomach did nothing but increase from the proximity of me being entirely too close to her. She'd given me so many opportunities to kill her before she'd learned of my nature. It wasn't surprising that she still so willingly allowed me into a position where I could take advantage. She was attracted to me even though she knew the truth. It was just too easy with this girl.

"Well, what part could possibly be untrue?" My teeth scraped against her neck, causing her head to fall back. It wouldn't take much pressure for me to tear through her skin.

"The part about me wanting to kill you." I replied, stilling as I tried to get some control over myself. If I ended up killing her tonight that would ruin what I had planned for tomorrow. I could not wait to see Edward's face when he saw that Isabella was still clinging to me despite all of his efforts. "Maybe I have other intentions for you."

"That would hardly give Edward a reason to act so dramatically." She said, her voice quieter than the whisper it had been only seconds ago. She gave no second thoughts. She was practically stepping directly into my trap.

"Maybe my twin has the same intentions as I do. Jealousy is an ugly sin." I could lie almost as easily as I told the truth. It would not hurt Isabella's ego to believe that two boys were rivaling over her. In fact, it would do good to boost her confidence.

She made sort of a scoffing sound. "Don't even pretend to act like you care about sins. You're whole family practices Satanism."

"Then don't pretend to act like you know me." Her hands moved, working with the buttons on my skinny jeans. I allowed her to get them undone although mostly out of curiosity. I couldn't think of any action this inexperienced virgin would try next.

She did not take in account that my charm was almost like compulsion. Any human would be powerless to it. That was why I was able to lead so many people into their deaths. Her over-abundance of lust would be the death of her.

"Do you want to know my intentions?" Her hands worked their way down to my zipper, maneuvering southward. "I can't dispel the thought of repaying the favor from the other night."

"So, you're not afraid anymore?" She could have taken this question in a multitude of ways. It was a loaded inquiry. There was absolutely nothing that could convince me that inside she was not still terrified of my very being.

"Of what? Of you?"

"Yes, you're not afraid of a demon?" I said this lightly, not giving her any evidence that she should have been very afraid. I was manipulating her and she had no idea of it. "You're not afraid of the monster that Edward made me out to be?"

"Should I be?"

I opened my mouth to answer, right as a wave of unhinged anger slammed into me. I felt a familiar gravitational tug; alerting me to the nearing presence of the one person that could make this ordeal all the more interesting. Determination, fury, and hatred washed over my body as if I were actually the one harboring those encompassing emotions. Seconds later, a distinct pounding on the front door caused a jump in Isabella's heartbeat. She was startled at the loud noise, inexplicably startled out of my compulsion.

"Bella! Open the door!" Edward's voice could be heard on the other side, I could imagine that he was very upset. "Stay away from him Bella! Open the door!"

"What a nice surprise." I looked down at her, brown eyes widened once again. The fear that I loved so much was evident in her demeanor. "The other brother is here."

* * *

><p><strong>So, what did you guys think?<strong>

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**Who do you think is going to win in the end? Edward, Masen, or Bella?**


	9. THE FRIGHT

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* * *

><p>"Bella." In the moment that I heard Edward calling my name, I realized exactly who I was stupid enough to let myself be alone with. Masen was standing only mere centimeters away from me and I just knew that he could reach out at any moment and kill me. "Bella, open the door!"<p>

My eyes flickered towards the boy that I should have been cautious of from the very day that I'd met him, there was a devilish grin on his face that made my stomach turn. I could not fathom how something so beautiful could commit such ugly deeds. He was a murderer and that was the only one thing that I was absolutely sure of about him.

"Aren't you going to let my brother in?" He inquired, shifting his gaze towards the door that separated Edward from us. I knew that if I let Edward inside he would protect me, and standing inside of a locked house with Masen ultimately rendered me defenseless. "He's going to catch his death standing out there in the cold."

I willed myself to make my feet move me over to the door, trying not to take my eyes off of Masen. He seemed to take some sort of delight in my timidness. His eyes made sure to never leave mine as well.

My fingers were trembling from the fright that had encompassed me the second that Edward started banging on my front door, but also from the thought of those demonic hands that had just been on me. I was disgusted with Masen for playing with my emotions so craftily. He was a clever manipulator and the master of mind games, I would have given my body to him if Edward had not intervened. It was almost like I could not exist him. He was hypnotic.

I got the door unlocked, stepping out of the way just before Edward barged his way into the foyer.

"Bella, are you okay?" His eyes assessed me for any damages, scrutiny under his emerald gaze was almost uncomfortable. I did not want him to know that I'd fallen for Masen's tricks again.

"Yes, I'm fine Edward." I looked up at him with earnest eyes, finding comfort in the fact that he was so protective of me. I knew that it wasn't anything personal. He was protecting me because he felt he had to, not because there was anything special about me to his eyes. "Thank you for coming over."

"What did you think I'd do to her Edward?" Masen asked, his soft voice taunting. His eyes were smiling with mischief. "Did you expect to find her blood all over these polished wood floors?"

Edward snarled at him, a glare of repugnance evident on his face. I did not flinch when he grabbed my arm and yanked me towards him. His movements were harsh but they did not harm me. "Leave her alone Masen."

"Isabella doesn't want that." He declared righteously, he glanced at me and I cowered. "Do you Isabella? You want me to touch you."

"She doesn't know what she's dealing with Masen and you're using her naivety to your advantage." Between the two boys, Edward looked the more intimidating. His face was set in a vicious scowl and Masens' expression was simply indifferent, though we all knew which brother actually had the upper hand. Masen was a killing machine and he would do what he was designed for. "Stop trying to seduce the girl and tell her why you're really here. Tell her about all of the ways that you've imagined killing her because I've memorized every single one of them."

A soft chuckle rumbled from within Masen and I had to wonder where he'd pulled the crude humor from. I was absolutely chilled to the core and scared out of my mind.

"Edward, you're frightening Isabella." He shook his head at his brother in a mock display of disapproval. "Didn't Esme teach you to be a better house guest than that?"

"Fuck you Masen." Edward barked, he was menacing in his defense. This only proved to widen the smile on his twin's face. "Why are you playing this game with her head? Either you want to kill her or you don't. Stop trying to make her think that you're not the bad guy. Do what you came here to do."

I could feel the terror inside of me sky rocketing into a level that was completely immeasurable. Edward was practically offering me off to his brother. My eyes shot towards Masen in alarm and I could of sworn that I saw the hunger there. Edward gripped my arm a little tighter, I realized that he'd never let go. I moved my gaze up to his and he shot me a very brief glance but in that briefest glance I saw his promise there. I knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to me.

"You misunderstand brother." Masen proceeded to say, his expression was strained but it was subtle. I could tell that he was holding himself back. He wanted to harm me and I had let him get close to me so easily. "I just came to show Isabella a visit."

"Then I guess you'll be leaving then." Edward stepped away from the front door, pulling me along with him. He gave Masen the indication that it was his time to leave. I was surprised by the smile that lifted up on Masen's face. There was no sign of anything but lilting, humor in his demeanor.

"Why of course. It is getting late." Masen took a step towards us, reaching out his hand towards me. I could feel Edward stiffening beside me which made me draw back in fear even more. Masen chuckled lightly at both of our reactions. "I'll be leaving now."

He took my hand into his, without the permission from me. I watched him in terrible awe and dread as he brought my hand up to his mouth. He pressed his lips into a soft kiss on my palm, looking up at me with a sparkle of something ominous inside of his eyes. I had the urge to rip my hand from out of his grasp but something practical told me that Masen would not have allowed me to do that. His lips were cool and smooth, almost scorching into the skin on my hand.

"Goodbye Isabella." He said nicely, once he'd pulled away. He flashed me one more devious smile before looking at his brother. "I'll see you at home Edward."

Edward ignored the cordial farewell that his brother offered him, deciding to focus his attention on me instead. There was a peculiar look that he wore on his face while he surveyed me. It wasn't quite anger or disappointment, there was something in his face that looked like expectancy. It didn't seem to surprise him at all that I would allow myself to fall right back into the hands of his demonic twin brother.

"I guess you're just not good at listening." Edward said, a bit of exasperation inside of his dry tone. He shook his head but did not appear to be blatantly upset with me. "I actually should have known that this would happen. Masen is extremely conniving and you are simply just too trusting Isabella."

"I didn't mean to fall back into his trap so easily." My voice was earnest, and I was being completely genuine. I appreciated that Edward had taken the time to explain his family history to me but I did not do a good job in showing it.

"I know you didn't." I was surprised at the understanding in his voice, and the comfort in his eyes when he looked at me. "I should have warned you that Masen would be doing his best to win this game now."

"Well, how am I going to protect myself from him. He's going to come whenever I am alone."

"Then, I guess I won't leave you alone." The corner of Edward's lip lifted up a bit. "And I'm being serious Bella. I'm going to be around you as much as I can."

"Does that mean that you're spending the night?" I asked, unsure. The idea of Edward in my house at all was already hard to believe. I didn't have a problem with Edward staying in the house with me. My father was not home and he would not get back until morning. I would feel more secure if I had another presence resting inside of the house with me.

"I can sleep down here on the couch." Edward said lightly, measuring my reaction as if he actually would care if I had the desire to oppose. He would probably still do what he wanted despite what I had to say about it. "I'll be gone in the morning. Probably before you even wake up."

"There is a couch in my room." I stated, meek in the way that I didn't have enough courage to look him inside of his emerald eyes.

"Would you feel safer if I slept on the couch in your room?" He asked, thick brows lifting with the curiosity in his voice. He didn't appear to be uncomfortable with the idea. He thought that I was afraid and he seemed to want to dispel that emotion out of me. It was true that I was afraid but that was not the only reason I desired Edward's company inside of my bedroom. There was just something about his presence that drew me in. I always got this peculiar feeling whenever he was around. "I'll be fine either way Bella."

"Come up to my room." I said softly, letting him know that I did not make the suggestion because I thought that he would find discomfort on the couch. "I want you to sleep up there with me."

His next response was not made with words but with the motion that his eyes made. They narrowed in scrutiny. Edward was always the overcritical one. His gaze fell down to mine for the briefest of seconds, while he searched for something within them. A second later he was looking at the staircase with a tilted head and he seemed to be thinking something over.

"Alright then." He proceeded to say, nodding his head in agreement. "Shall we go?"

"Of course." I led the way up the rickety staircase. It creaked with every step we took. I almost felt embarrassed to have him viewing a house as bland as mine when he lived in something of a mansion. "My house looks like a shack compared to yours."

"Don't be silly." He protested, a half of a smile lighting up his expression. "Your house has character. It's perfect for you and your father."

"Yeah, I guess." My room was behind the first door on the left side of the hallway. My father agreed to let me have the master bedroom with the bathroom attached because I was a girl and I needed more privacy than he did. His room was just three doors down the hall next to his bathroom. It was a four bedroom home but we really didn't need all of the space since it was only the two of us now.

My father was rarely at home when I was there. We barely ever got the chance to see each other nowadays. I had a feeling that this was done on purpose by both of us however. Charlie was a constant reminder to me of the fact that my mother just up and walked out on us, and I knew that he felt a certain sense of failure every time he looked at his daughter and saw the memory of his unfaithful wife staring back at him.

"That is the bathroom over there." I pointed to the door that was placed adjacent to the old bookcase my grandmother bought for me a couple years ago. The shelves were overflowing with withered books that family members and friends had given to me over the span of seventeen years. I was about as passionate with reading as Edward was with the piano. "Just in case you need to use it or something."

"Okay, thanks." He replied, looking around the four walls that were surrounding us. There wasn't a lot to view in my room. There was definitely nothing spectacular to see. I had a queen sized bed, a closet, a desk with a computer, a television, and a couch. "I like your room."

I looked at him with a wry expression, mistaking his genuineness as scorn. There was an earnest look on his face when he said this however. I just could not imagine what he would like about such a plain room. I knew that he had seen so many extravagant things in his lifetime.

"What do you like about it?"

"Simplicity." There was something sad detectable inside of his voice, he looked down at the wooden floors that Charlie had polished a few days ago. "I would do anything for a simple life. Some people do not appreciate the things that they have and I will never understand that."

I had a feeling that Edward was referring to me somehow with his statement but I did not ask him to confirm this assumption. I gave him a blanket from out of my closet and two of the fluffy pillows that were thrown across my bed. I asked him if he wanted me to turn the television on while he fell asleep because I usually slept with it off, but he told me that he usually didn't pass his time by watching television.

I laid in my bed for a couple minutes. I was listening to the differences in the sound of Edward's breathing compared to mine. Edward fell asleep before I did. I knew this because his breaths made a gradual transition from paced and calm to shallow and repetitive. I could sort of see the outline of his body through the dark. His chest was rising and falling in evenly timed motions. He looked peaceful when he was sleeping. I liked that look on him and I had no choice but to appreciate him in that moment.

"Thanks for staying here with me Edward." I whispered into the darkness, realizing that his presence was bringing me more comfort than I had imagined.

The night was still but only for a few moments before I heard a reply that I had not expected. "Your welcome Bella."

**TOB~~~~**

Edward was wrong. I woke up early before he had even thought to stir in his sleep. The sight of him so early in the morning was kind of refreshing. He was almost hanging off of the couch now, the covers were thrown onto the floor, and his face was buried into the pillows I had given him last night. He was snoring lightly and some time during the night he had disposed of his shirt. I tried not to gawk at the sight of his body or how perfectly the couch was positioned across from my big bay window. The early morning sun shone in and seemed to purposely pick Edward as its target. He almost looked like he was glowing and I had the strongest urge to touch him.

I sat up in my bed, stretching to get rid of the last remnants of sleep. School was on my mind but it was possibly the furthest from what I wanted to do with my day. I decided to go downstairs and make some breakfast because I was hungry. I knew that Edward might want something to eat when he woke up as well. He would not have time to go home, eat breakfast, and get ready for school. I did not want him to be inconvenienced because he felt obligated to protect me.

Charlie was already gone and he left the kitchen a mess. He wasn't used to waking up on his own yet. My mother used to be his personal alarm and he had not invested in an actual clock yet. He was always rushing which was why yesterday was an extreme rarity for us to have breakfast together.

I ignored the dishes that he had strewn across the counters and sink. I would clean those up later. I went to the refrigerator to inspect the choices and limitations that I had this morning. Charlie had not given me the money to go grocery shopping yet so we were low on products. The first thing I spotted was the carton of eggs and the can of cinnamon rolls that I had to hide from Charlie.

I picked those two things as my items of choice and also decided to put on a pot of oatmeal on the stove. My favorite food in the entire world was cheddar scrambled eggs but my mother was the only person who cooked them exactly how I liked. Every time I made them they were either too soggy or too crunchy. Today I would not be attempting to perfect my mother's recipe. I would just make them sunny-side up.

Between the time when the eggs were being prepared and the rolls were baking, Edward had woken up and decided to meander his way downstairs. He hadn't put his shirt back on and his hair was crazier than usual. He looked like the perfect example of a magazine model. I offered him a friendly smile as he approached the island.

"Good morning." I greeted, uniform in the cordial manner I used. I could only imagine that he usually woke up to pleasant morning greetings by his mother. "I hope you were able to sleep comfortably."

"The couch was fine." He nodded his head, sleep was still evident somewhere in his voice. It was still obviously visible on his facial expression as well. "Are you making me breakfast?"

This was a joke. The corner of his mouth lifted playfully. "I hope you like cinnamon rolls. It's nothing fancy."

"I appreciate your hospitality Bella." He was being earnest. I decided quickly that I liked this side of Edward. It seemed as if I was steadily getting past that cold exterior that he wore so well. He was so much more than the aloof desolate that he appeared to be at first glance.

"I appreciate your dedication." My gaze shifted towards where he sat, wondering if he truly understood how happy I was about him being around. "You've gone far out of the way to help me. Not many people would do that."

The kitchen became filled with silence. It was a thick silence but it was not necessarily an uncomfortable one. This made me realize that Edward and I weren't really all that well acquainted. There was nothing for us to talk about outside of what was going on with Masen, and I wasn't quite ready to bring up the nightmares that I had last night yet.

The food only took about twenty minutes to prepare. I fixed my plate and Edward's plate. I got us both two big cups of orange juice and then I led him to the living room so that we could eat in front of the television. It was something that I loved to do with Rosalie and Jasper when I was younger.

"You have a piano?" It was the first thing to come out of Edward's mouth in a half hour. I looked up from my plate to see what he was talking about. I realized that he was referring to my mother's baby grand. I barely gave that thing notice anymore. She was the only person in the house that was physically inclined to play an instrument. Charlie did not have the patience and I was much too clumsy. "Do you play at all?"

I shook my head, chewing the food inside of my mouth before replying, "It was my mother's. She is in love with the classics."

"Have you ever thought about playing?" Edward asked, licking some of the cream cheese off of his roll. He glanced at me briefly before focusing his attention back on his plate. "I've been playing all of my life."

He meant all one hundred and something years.

"My mother tried to teach me once." I admitted light-heartedly, I liked thinking about the times that I'd spent with Renee over the years. It was the only thing that I had to remind me of her being real. "It didn't last long though. Mostly because I was five and thought the piano was for old people."

Edward chuckled at what he must have found humorous. "You didn't start to appreciate the classics until later?"

"I actually just started liking it." I shrugged my shoulders, classical music was probably just my favorite because it was my mother's favorite. I wanted to pretend to have at least one thing in common with her. "It makes me feel close to her."

"That's understandable." Edward turned his glance back towards the piano and I guess the grandfather clock beside it must have caught his attention. "We are going to be awfully late for school."

The mentioning of school deflated my mood even lower. I really did not feel like jumping in the shower and getting ready. "I don't think I want to go today. I mean if you're not worried about missing some work."

A soft string of laughter escaped from between Edward's lips. "Bella you won't believe how many times I have attended and graduated from high school."

The thought of his matriculation began to reel my head. I could not wrap my thoughts around how long Edward had actually been stuck inside of that seventeen year old body. "That must really suck. I would shoot myself if I had to keep repeating high school."

"Sure it sucks." He agreed, hitching his shoulder in a careless shrug. He seemed indifferent enough about it though."But the younger we start out at a place the longer we can stay."

"Would you rather have been stuck in an older person's body?"

Edward cocked his head to the side for a moment. There seemed to be a long process of contemplation going on within his head. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" I inquired, utterly disbelieving the fact that stuff like this existed outside of movies. Magic, demons, and immortality. Those were all things that kept me so engrossed in books. It was a wonder that these things were a part of my life now.

"I don't know Bella. It's like I am above the average teenager in intellect but generally I still have the mindset of a teenager. I don't know if that makes any sense to you."

"I think I can understand the basis of what you're trying to say." I nodded my head once, glancing at him sideways. Edward was many years older than a teenager. Of course with time he has grown very smart. He probably knows things that even our teachers don't know. But despite the fact that chronologically he's older, when you are stuck in the body of a seventeen year old you'll never have the capacity to truly become a man. Or have the mindset of a man. He's still a teenager at heart and he probably will always be. "Can you teach me?"

He was looking forlorn again. His eyes drifted up to meet mine in wonder, almost if he had not caught onto what I was asking of him.

"The piano." I clarified, smiling lightly as something warm transitioned onto his expression. "I would love to learn how to play."

Edward couldn't help a small smile. "I would be glad to help you learn."

The two of us finished up our breakfast. Edward tried to volunteer for kitchen duty but I turned him down. It was my house and he was the guest. I cleaned up the mess while Edward went upstairs to freshen up. I had extra toothbrushes and face towels under my bathroom sink. When I was done cleaning I went up to use Charlie's bathroom and then I went to sit by the piano. Edward joined me shortly.

"Will it take years for me to get as good as you?" That was quite possibly the dumbest question I could have asked.

Edward chuckled at my stupidity, running his fingers along the keys. Even that elicited a beautiful sound to spring from out of the piano. Edward was undeniably gifted. "I've been playing piano for decades Isabella. It depends on the person and the passion. If you love to play then maybe you will become better than me."

I knew that he was souping my head up but I nodded in agreement otherwise. I liked the classics and I liked the thought of learning piano, but I liked the thought of finding something to bond with Edward over as well. He was still strictly protected with those layers of mental and emotional barriers that he constructed so well. He was also starting to show me a more personal side of himself too.

"To learn piano, the first thing that you will need to do is make sense of the keys." Edward put his fingers onto the keyboard layout in direction. His voice was soft and nice with patience. "There are a lot of them, but the keyboard's simple layout makes it easy to navigate."

I was on board. That part seemed easy enough.

"White piano keys are called naturals. They sound a natural note when pressed opposed to a sharp or a flat. Press one of the white keys Bella."

I put my finger on one of the keys between the small gap that Edward had made with his two hands. I pressed the key and closed my eyes as I felt the sound wrap around me.

"Do you like that sound?"

I nodded my head and pressed the key again.

"There are seven naturals on the keyboard: **C-D-E-F-G-A-B." **Edward took my hand and spread my fingers out among the key scale. "After the **B**, the scale repeats itself on the next **C**. This means that you really only have to memorize seven notes."

"What about the black ones?" I asked, pressing down on one of the dark keys, Edward nodded his head at my actions.

"Black piano keys are called accidentals, and they are just that: the sharps and flats of the piano." I liked listening to Edward's instructions. He seemed so sure of himself that it made me feel confident in my ability to learn. My mother was a little more stern and impatient in her way of teaching. I found it relatively easy to take in the knowledge being given to me by Edward. He did not make me feel nervous or incompetent. That was something my mother did often. She was very critical of other people's failures. That was probably because she hated herself so much for her own. "On the keyboard, there are five black accidentals per octave. They can be either sharp or flat, and are named after the notes they modify."

"Okay." I nodded my head, letting him know that I was still comprehending his explanations.

"A sharp makes a note a half step higher in pitch." He continued, voice light and easy. It was like all he knew was piano. It was what he lived, breathed, and ate. "On the keyboard, a note's sharp is the black key directly to its right."

"So a flat must make a note a half step lower in pitch right?" I looked at him curiously, trying to remember the few lessons that my mother had forced me to sit through all of those years ago.

Edward nodded his bronzed head, small smile showing that he was pleased with my assumption. "And on the keyboard, a note's flat is the black key directly to its left."

"Wow, this stuff is actually very interesting." I didn't tell Edward that he was the only thing making the lesson interesting. I was sure I would have been bored if my teacher had been anyone else. There was something about being next to Edward. It was almost like I was a part of a secret society. There was no one else that he spent his time with besides his family. Edward had no friends. The fact that he was choosing to be around me was thrilling, even if he was only here to protect me and not because he wanted to be. "Are there any more basics that I should know?"

"Actually, I think that is enough for today. Just try to memorize the notes on the piano. Identify the white keys individually, and practice naming them until you can find each note without counting from C. You don't need to memorize each sharp and flat by name just yet, but remember how to locate them on the keyboard using the natural keys."

"Thanks for taking the time to teach me."

"No problem." He answered swiftly, green eyes blazing with something pleasant. "You're not as much of an idiot as I originally thought you to be."

I did not know if I should have been offended by his little quip or if I should have brushed it off with a slight laugh. I decided to throw one back at him for measure. "And your actually not an uptight asshole with temperamental problems when he doesn't get his way."

Edward smiled at my bite but the smile did not quite resonate in the expression on his face. He looked down into his hands for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. "I have to act like that on purpose Bella. It's to keep people away from me and my family. Anyone who ever gets close to us always seems to get hurt."

"Don't you ever get lonely?" I asked, looking at the piano keys but focusing my attention on him. He was still looking down into his hands. "Don't you ever get tired of pushing people away?"

"Sure I do." He admitted this fact, though as if it were not an important aspect. His happiness was not to be considered. "But it is the price that I must pay."

"Why do you do all of this?" I decided to ask. He looked at me as if the question was entirely absurd or as if the answer should have been quite obvious. I did not know and I was confused as to why he put forth so much of energy in trying to apprehend his reckless brother. It would be easy to just sit back and accept things like the rest of his family had done.

"I don't want to be a monster Bella."

I reached my hand slowly towards him, taking his face in my hand and guiding him to look up at me. He allowed me to do this without much aversion. His eyes shone with something unfathomable as he held my gaze.

"You are not your brother Edward. You will never be him." I nodded my head, showing him that I believed everything that I was telling him. "You are not a monster."

"Well, thank you Bella." I could tell that he had relatively different opinions from mine. "That means a lot coming from someone who knows about my life."

"Would you like to go upstairs and watch a movie with me?" I wondered, standing to my feet and taking a brief stretch. I wanted to show Edward that he could be my friend if he wanted to. I did not judge him for what he may have done in the past. "I have an impressive collection of classic horror movies."

"That sounds like a marvelous idea."

Edward and I took our trek back upstairs to my room. He helped me hook up my dvd player to the embedded television on my wall. We spent a few minutes bantering with each other over which movie deserved to be titled "Best horror movie of all time".

We could not come to an agreement very effectively. We both had very different tastes. We decided on watching the Halloween movie collection first.

"Edward, come sit on my bed with me." He was standing near the couch, as if he did not want to seem inappropriate by approaching my bed. I could tell that he was not trying to cross any boundaries with me. He was not the audacious type like his brother. He wasn't timid either. There was somewhere in between where Edward's personality sat.

I wanted him to know that I did not mistake him for Masen. I knew the two were completely different. He did not have to gauge all of his actions before he made them. He did not understand that I trusted him with my life. "You don't have to stand over there."

"Are you sure?" Nevertheless, Edward was always polite. I guess it was something that Esme ingrained into his psyche as a child. He was a charming gentlemen. That was something that all of the Cullen's beheld. Charm, beauty, politeness, deception...

I nodded my head and welcomed him onto the left side of my bed. We sat there watching movies for about an hour. I thought that it was easy hanging out with him. The conversation between the two of us was not as strained as it had once been. We still both weren't being completely open with each other, but there were layers of walls being broken down between us. Every time we had a conversation, I could see the comfort on his end rising.

I fell asleep about an hour into the movie and I did not wake up until I heard the sound of a phone ringing. I opened my eyes slightly, letting my sleepy disorientation fade away. I sat up to find Edward asleep beside me. He looked so peaceful and beautiful up close. I longed to reach out and run my fingers along his pallid skin but I had enough self-restraint not to do it. I nudged him gently to alert him that his phone was just ringing.

When he opened his eyes, he reminded me so much of a innocent child. His irises were pure green and tantalizing. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not very long." I replied, handing him the phone that had slipped out of his pocket. "You just missed a call."

Edward took the phone from me and sat up straighter in the bed. His fingers sifted through his hair in a way that almost looked like habit. I could see a look of displeasure swallowing his facial expression as he found out who had tried to call him.

"Who was it?" I asked, thinking that it was Masen.

"Carlisle." Edward answered curtly, shaking his head in frustration. He held the phone up to his ear as he returned his father's call. "I can only imagine what he wants. I know whatever it is...it has to do with Masen."

"How do you know that?"

Edward looked at me wryly, just as I heard someone on the other end of the phone saying hello. "Because it always is Bella."


	10. THE CHARM

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><p><strong>SHORT CHAPTER<strong>

**EDWARD POV**

"What do you want Carlisle?" There was no warmth inside of my tone as I acknowledged my father on the other end of this receiver. I could hear my mother's soft voice speaking to him in the background. They were probably wondering why I hadn't come home last night or gone to school today.

"Where are you at son?" His voice was easy but laced with some sort of curiosity. "You have your mother worried sick over here. She's imagining the worst case scenario."

"And what would that be?" I questioned, turning my head slightly to view Isabella. She was sitting beside me but training her eyes on something that was across the room. I was not fooled by her attempt to feign disinterest in the conversation that was going on between my father and I. I knew she was listening.

As well she should be. I had never seen a human so nonchalant when it came to the safety of their own lives. I tried my very hardest not to hold her weaknesses against her. She was only a child and Masen had years of experience on his hands. I was oddly aware that my interference in his plans was just him allowing me to comfort Bella. It was amusing to him to know that Bella thought I was saving her life.

In reality, Masen could kill her whenever he felt like it. The only thing that I could fight against him with was logic.

"Losing her son of course." There was a smile inside of Carlisle's voice, something that softened the walls I blocked him out with just slightly.

"Well, there is a good thing that there are two of me." I threw that one in for measure. I was not in the mood to have silly conversations with Carlisle nor was I in the mood to listen to my mother's pleas of undaunted love.

When it came to love there was a fact, that sometimes if you loved a person enough you would put your happiness aside to do what was best for them. Esme and Carlisle were quite possibly the two most selfish people in the world. It was ultimately their faults why so many innocent people had to lose their lives.

If they loved Masen enough they would kill him. He was nothing but a lost soul.

"Your humor is incredibly morbid." Carlisle chuckled lightly, though there was not much amusement inside of his laughter. I could not see what he would find funny anyway. He was the middle-man between two opposing groups, torn between a family that was determined to rival each other.

"What do you want Carlisle?" I asked again, taking another moment to review Bella. She was looking directly at me now. Her presence was troublesome still but getting less difficult to tolerate as I got to know her more. Isabella was not a normal girl and that much intrigued me, but her abnormalities were also the things that bothered me the most. There was almost something within her that seemed to enjoy danger. It was some kind of thrill to her.

I could understand part of it. There was so much attention on her now. Two boys both rebelling against each other at the sake of a doe-eyed beauty. Her parents were in the middle of a divorce, her two best friends were superficial, and she was the person that often seemed to fade in the background. I could empathize with her need to feel special but she would soon realize that all of the worldly stuff she worried about did not matter. If she could not find it inside of herself to push that stuff aside, to find some sort of life-preserving abilities within herself...she would be a goner.

"I need you to help me out with something." Carlisle's voice was steady, almost as if he'd known that I would reject his request rather closed-mindfully. "Our cousins from Denali need another vial of the elixir delivered to their house. There is no way that I can take off of work to do it."

"What about Emmett?" There was no way that I was leaving Bella here by herself. I would be gone for at least three days at the minimum. I had to force myself not to shudder at the thought of what damage Masen could unleash in a mere seventy-two hours.

"Emmett says that he cannot miss football practice for the first week." Carlisle did not realize that me leaving would be just what Masen needed to make his moves. Everyday I could see his plans becoming more defined inside of his head. I already knew which way he had decided that he would take her.

I had to look away from the trusting expression on Isabella's face. I did not want her to know that her confidence in me outlandishly surpassed the minuscule ounce of certainty that I had left. I'd failed against Masen so many times before that getting my hopes up high was not a mistake I would allow myself to make this time.

"Why can't Esme make the delivery?"

"Masen's body is starting to reject animal blood now and even the blood that I picked up from the hospital. He's becoming weaker as the days go by. Esme does not want to leave him alone."

I was not ashamed of the delight that seemed to spring from within my being. I did not know much about the inner workings of Masen's body, but I did know that the demon inside of him was not indestructible. My plan to defeat my brother had always been to strike against him when he was at his weakest.

I would do this with or without the permission of my family.

"I don't feel very comfortable leaving Bella here alone." Her attention seemed to zero in on the dialogue between my father and I. The mentioning of her name was enough to keep her captivated.

"Masen barely has enough energy to keep himself awake Edward." I could hear the sadness laced deep within the responsible undertone of Carlisle's words. The thought of losing his son was one of the hardest things for him to stomach. He was deeply compassionate as a person and much too sensitive if you asked me.

I could not quite empathize with him though. The only emotion that I allowed to pass through my body was triumph.

"What time do you want me to leave?" I inquired, formulating a plan inside of my head as I waited for his answer.

"As soon as possible." Carlisle replied quietly, there was a thoughtful sound to his next words. "Just in case something unexpected was to happen. I would want you to be here."

I did not know what he was referring to. There was an endless amount of possibilities that swarmed my mind. The thought of Masen dying while I was away was one of the adamant possibilities. The thought of something detrimental happening to Bella was another one.

"Okay." I said, welcoming the end of this trite conversation. There was a time when Carlisle and I had been exceptionally close. Masen was the one that drove the wedge between us. It was out of pure jealousy. Masen wanted to come first in everybody's life. Carlisle was the one who let him rupture our relationship and I would never forgive him for it. "I'll be there in the next thirty minutes."

There were no goodbyes. Just the sound of an abrupt dial tone.

"Where are you going?" Isabella prompted herself to ask, looking up at me with something that revealed just how worried she really was.

"Alaska." I looked at her, for any signs of crumbling. I'd be afraid too if I was her. "I'll most likely be gone for three days. I can try to make it two."

Her eyes widened in fear. There was something that she wanted to say but could not will herself to say it. She did not want me to go. I guess my presence gave her some sense of comfort. I would not deny the fact that her presence had given me something as well. I did not know what that something was but I'd felt different around her today and last night than I did before. It was not something that I cared to decipher however.

"What am I going to do? Masen will kill me while you are away." It was remarkable just how easily she could fall apart. I did not like seeing her so shaken. I could not come up with the proper response for her actions. Mental comfort was something I could relinquish to her but physical comfort was not something I had an expertise in.

"No, Masen is not going to come near you Bella." Masen was weak enough now that his first priority would be to restore his health. My plan was to go to Alaska and make it back in time before he did that, and then I would finally put an end to all of this. In the mean time, I would go to a few extra measures to ensure Isabella's safety. "You need to get dressed and pack a bag. You need enough clothes for a few days. You're going to stay at Jasper and Rosalie's house until I get back."

"I can't put them in that kind of danger Edward. Are you crazy?"

"Just trust me Bella." I gave her a very earnest look. I would not let anything happen to her blonde-haired friends. "I want to give you something."

"What?" She asked curiously, brows scrunching together just a little. There was a slight look of excitement on her facial expression. I could not help the amusement at her humanly tendencies.

I reached inside of my pants pocket and pulled out the charm I had made for her before coming last night. Carlisle and The Volturi were still distant friends amongst each other. From time to time they sent us potions that helped aid us in our day to day life. It was their way of making up their depth to Carlisle. He granted them with immortality and they turned his son into a flesh-eating demon.

"What is it?" She held her hand out in expectancy.

I dropped the trinket into her hand and she turned her smoldering gaze onto mine. "You got me religious paraphernalia? I thought that you were a satanist?"

There was so much to explain to this persistent child but not enough time to do it. I decided to give her a brief overview of things. "This necklace is charmed Bella. Masen can't come near you as long as you wear it."

"What do you mean?" She held the chain up and surveyed it intently, running her fingertips among the rusted design of the cross.

"The cross is a vial and it is filled with holy water." I looked at her, watching the way her eyes widened momentarily. "The necklace has been charmed. It was made to keep negative energies and enemies away from the person who wears it. Masen has an aversion towards religious elements in general. He cannot go into a church of God, he cannot hold a bible inside of his bare hands, and holy water actually burns him. The fact that the necklace was made for the purpose to keep bad spirits away was just a plus."

"I won't take this off." She promised, hooking the necklace around the pale skin that covered her neck. "I'll make sure to wear it everywhere I go."

"Good." I nodded my head once, smiling lightly at the sign of her obedience. Something was finally starting to get through to her.

**~~~~TOB**

I dropped Bella off at her friend's house before making my way back to my home. Everyone was there already when I arrived.

"Hello, my love." Esme smiled at me upon my entry. She was in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family. Her appearance was perfectly poised. She was beautiful in the most unnatural sort of way. I accepted the hug that she wrapped around my torso and I did not miss the worry that sat just barely on the edge of her expression. "How was your day?"

"Trite." I replied, noticing Emmett inside of the living room. He was watching a game on the television. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement when he noticed me standing inside of the kitchen. "Where is Carlisle?"

"He is in his office." Esme ran the warmth of her fingertips through my bed-ridden hair. I could feel her heart beating through the kind smile that she offered only me. "He's been expecting you."

I leaned forward and pressed a kiss onto my mother's cheek. It was the first time that I had shown her affection in several months. My gesture knocked the breath right from out of her lungs and she gasped at me with a pleasantly surprised expression.

There were no more words exchanged between the two of us. I left to go upstairs and she continued to cook whatever she had been cooking. Carlisle's office was at the end of the hall on the second floor but something distracted me before I made it to my destination. Alice's bedroom door was slightly ajar. It was open enough so that I could see Masen laying on her bed. She was beside him.

There was a conversation conspiring among the two that immediately ceased when I approached the door.

I did not knock when I pushed my way into her room. I never showed Alice more courtesy than she deserved. Her eyes flared like emerald daggers when they landed on my approaching form. "What the hell do you want?"

"Be a good girl Alice." Masen chided playfully, his voice was lacking the luster that usually added the dark vibrancy into his tone. "That's no way to welcome our brother."

It was obvious that he was getting weaker from the lack of sustenance that he was in taking. His skin almost looked translucent now. It was so pale that it seemed as if it would be cold if you were to touch it. The color of his eyes were no longer the emerald green that we shared. His irises were now an onyx black and the purple rings underneath them had enlarged. His lips were chapped and dried out. It was absurd how he went from being fine just yesterday to what he was now. The demon inside of his body was a parasite.

"Screw him." Alice was the best at rolling her eyes. She showed no indication of love towards me. It did not stun me in the slightest of ways. I was already aware of the fact that people like Alice did not truly know how to love someone.

"I came to see what all of the fuss was about. Carlisle said that Masen was not taking too well to his new diet." The smirk that lifted at the corner of my lips did not go unnoticed by my twin or my little sister.

Both of them reacted in two completely different ways though.

Masen chuckled darkly and Alice only hardened her glare.

"You must think that this all is just some joke Edward." Alice never liked to let her guard down around me. She was always a vicious presence to be apprehended. Not once had she opted to show me softness but she did not have to. Times like these were the ones that I could see right through her.

Her bottom lip trembled with her struggle to keep herself composed. Her eyes were glossed over with tears that she took great care to hold captive. It was evident that Masen was the most important thing to her. More important than her own well-being perhaps.

"Actually, I find it quite difficult to see humor in this situation." I leaned against the door frame, resting my weight against the wall. I made a point not to come directly into Alice's bed room. She'd have a fit. "It's a pity that things should have to end this way."

"You would expect this to be the end?" Alice asked warily, though the bite had not left her voice. She looked at Masen with all of the care I had ever seen in the world. Sometimes I wished that Alice could read Masen's mind. She would know just how naive she was to the fact of his loyalty towards her.

"His health has never depleted so severely before." I observed every facet of his well-being. He had never looked so close to death than now. "I might come home to find him wasted away."

Both of them detected the triumph inside of my tone.

"So, you're going to take the drive to Alaska off of Carlisle's hands?" Alice asked wryly, I could picture her declining almost immediately. There was no way she would leave Masen's side for three days.

"No one else seemed capable." I looked at her pointedly, cocking my head slightly. She was a ghastly excuse for a daughter.

"You will be missed." Masen spoke cleverly, the inside of his mind was reciting alphabets in Greek. He only did this when he did not want me to know the content of his mind. I could only imagine that he was thinking about Bella in one way or the other. He did not know that I had sent her to stay with Rosalie and Jasper for the next three days. I would not tell him either. "What time will you make your departure?"

"Immediately." I replied, looking into the soulless, depths of his black orbs.

A small smirk tugged the corners of his mouth upward in a slightly crooked angle. "Who is going to keep Isabella company while you are gone?"

The way he said that to me made a small bought of anger crash into my body. I knew that he could feel the wave of emotion as it moved through my body. That was what he thrived off on. He knew how to rattle me up and it amused him to no ends. We held each other's gaze through the next few moments, in which I refused to respond to his taunting inquiry.

"Won't she be all alone and worried?" Alice proceeded to ask, giggling darkly at the extent of what must be a hidden plan between the two of them.

"I am pretty sure she will manage to survive without the company of you two." I could feel my eyes narrowing at the new sense of smugness that had attached itself so freely to Alice's demeanor.

She avoided looking me in the eyes, instead she prompted to focus her attention on Masen. "Maybe we should pay her a visit?"

Masen shook his bronzed head slowly, though I was not naive. He would go to see Bella as soon as my car hit the gravel towards the freeway. He would be oddly disappointed when he realized that he would not be able to go near her however.

His head tilted curiously when he felt that rare spell of arrogance wrapping around me. His eyes brightened with interest but he did not mention it.

"You should get going brother." Masen nodded his head at me, the smile on his face was observably demonic. I felt sorry for my twin more than I hated him. That fact would always remain. "And you should take your time driving. We wouldn't want you skidding off of the ice covered roads. That would be rather unfortunate."

"Hurry back." Alice was the best at sarcasm. She looked at me with mock-earnest eyes. "I'll be counting the seconds that you're gone."

"Fuck you Alice." It was the last thing I uttered before shutting the door behind me.


	11. THE PLAN

**Disclaimer : I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

**I want to give an immense thanks to all of the people who support and review this story.**

**You guys are one of my main inspirations.**

**Please continue to read, favorite, subscribe, and review.**

**xoxoxo**

* * *

><p>"You weren't at school today." Rosalie stated suspiciously, she couldn't help but notice the silver Volvo that had dropped me off in front of her house. I knew that she was going to be loaded with questions as soon as Edward pulled off. I hadn't even stepped across the threshold between the outside porch and her foyer yet, and she was already staring at me like she expected some kind of confession to come spilling from between my lips. "Do you want to tell me what you were doing with Edward Cullen?"<p>

"I wasn't doing anything with him." I replied casually, I was able to look inside of her violet eyes as I said this. It was the truth. We weren't doing anything close to what Rosalie's dirty mind must have conjured up by now. "He dropped me off over here and now he is on his way to Alaska."

"What is he going to Alaska for?" She asked, taking my bags as if she were doing me a kind favor. All she did was toss them rather carelessly inside of the hallway closet. "And why were you riding with him in the first place? He hates your guts Bella. Surely your lust-induced head hasn't forgotten that fact."

"You sure ask a lot of questions." I rolled my eyes at her, taking a seat on the couch. I pretended to stare at the program on the television. I thought maybe she'd take the hint and stop badgering me. It was only for her own good that she did not know the truth. I wished I could explain that fact to her.

"No, I don't actually." She rebutted wryly, tossing the remote control inside of my lap. She plopped down beside me on the arm of the couch.

"Everything that you've said so far has been a damn question." I smiled at her because she was severely in denial. Rosalie and Jasper Hale were two of the most nosiest people that I knew. They were always in other people's business. They were just like the other people in Forks. They needed the entertainment.

Although the fact remained, curiosity killed the cat.

"Well, I apologize for being concerned about my best friend." Rosalie tossed her blond hair in my direction sarcastically. The smell of her lavender shampoo just about saturated the particles in the air. "Next time you go missing I won't waste my time worrying about where you are."

"Stop being so melodramatic." I replied, looking at her with a slight smile. I wrapped my arms around her waist and playfully pulled her into my lap. She tried to keep a stern expression plastered onto her face but she was unsuccessful. "You're just mad because I didn't invite you to spend the night in my bed."

"Edward spent the night?" Jasper asked, descending down the staircase. His hair was dark and damp. He was freshly showered and startlingly handsome. He did not compare to the Cullen twins in the slightest however. "Damn Bella, you don't waist time huh?"

"It's always the quiet ones Jazz." Rosalie said towards her brother. The both of them flashed me very similar looking grins. I was not surprised that both of their minds were in the gutter this evening. "The quiet ones are always the freaks."

"I thought you liked Masen though?" Jasper looked at me curiously, taking refuge in the spot that I'd just pulled Rosalie from. Both of them looked at me for an answer.

It was complicated to explain. I had originally been attracted to Masen but that was before I learned about him wanting to kill me. He was sexually thrilling and much too seductive for his own good. I feared him but somehow that was still not enough to dispel the desires inside of me whenever he was around.

Edward on the other hand, was the twin that I'd originally had distaste for. He had grown on me though. I trusted him with everything that was inside of me. He was a lovely person once he allowed you to break through his walls.

"Who said I didn't like him anymore?" I decided to play coy. It was best to let them think what they wanted. I could not release any parts of the truth to them. It would only make them liabilities and I could not live with that on my conscience.

"So it's like that huh? I get it." Jasper nodded his curly head, the wet strands stuck to his forehead until he swiped them away. "Bella is joining the big leagues Rosie. She's trying out both Cullens."

"Whose next Bella?" Rosalie looked at me with a humor like no other. They had never seen me take much interest in any boys. What they did not understand would not hurt them. I let them have their fun at my expense. "Are you going to switch teams and try out all three of the Denali sisters?"

"Now, that would be just awesome." Jasper said, nudging me in the shoulder. A charming smile lifted the corner of his lips. "You can have Tanya and Irina. Make sure you leave Kate for me though. I heard that she's the frisky one."

"What happened to the plans that you had for Alice?" I asked, a bit of scorn in my voice. I raised my eyebrows in mock-curiosity. My teasing did not go unnoticed by Jasper.

"She's the most frigid bitch I've ever met." Rosalie came to her brother's aid as if the thought of Alice not having interest in him was downright appalling. They were so struck by themselves that it was amusing. I must admit that the Cullen family were practically the only people to ever overlook Jasper and Rosalie's startling beauty. "I've seen rocks more responsive than her."

"I saw Alice flirting with Mike Newton today actually." My eyes widened at the admittance of this. It must have been quite embarrassing for Jasper to not have been picked over Mike. There was no denying that golden boy had Mike beat in attractiveness by a long shot. I had to wonder why Alice would waste her time with someone as droll as Mike in the first place. Surely, she had other suitors that were far more impressive than he would ever be.

"That's ironic considering the fact that Mike hates Masen." Rosalie said, cocking her head to the side thoughtfully. "I think the feeling is mutual on Masen's part too. You should have seen the way they stared each other down when Mike came to sit by Alice at lunch today."

"Yeah, Mike looked like he was about to shit his pants." Jasper and Rosalie both shared laughter at this. I could not find the humor however.

Something was not right with that picture. Mike did not like Masen and Masen did not like Mike. Alice practically worshiped the ground her brother walked on. There was no way she would allow someone that Masen didn't approve of to interest her. There was really no way that she could like Mike over Jasper. Why would she waste her time with that imbecile then? It was almost like she was luring him in...

I almost went into shock upon the revelation. My eyes widened and I hoped that my friends had not noticed my reaction. "Excuse me for a moment. I need to make a phone call."

"To who?" The two of them asked this in unison, eyeing me suspiciously as I stood to my feet. I'd never kept anything from them in the past. I could only hope that they were not reading too deeply into my change of behavior. If they were to question me I would not be able to offer them any answers.

"My uh...Dad...Charlie, he told me to call him.." I was not a good liar. I never have been but I did not stick around to witness the skepticism on their faces.

I hurried to the bathroom on that was located on the second floor of their house and locked the door behind me. I waited for a few seconds to see if I could hear their footsteps trying to follow behind me. They would probably try to sneak and listen to my conversation. I would not put it past them. I waited for a couple of minutes and didn't hear anything. Still, I turned the water faucet on to drown out the sound in case they did decide to come listen.

I dialed the number that Edward had given to me before he left. He told me not to hesitate in calling him if I needed his help while he was away.

He answered the call on the second ring. His voice was almost panicked. "Bella are you alright?"

"I am fine." I replied quietly, I could hear the distant sound of cars rolling past him. He must have been on the freeway. I almost felt bad. I didn't want him getting distracted while he was driving. If something happened to him I did not know what I would do. "I have something important to tell you though."

"What is it?" His voice was rushed, hushed into a volume that faded with the music he sat with inside of his car. Debussy was playing through his speakers. "Has Masen done something to you?"

"No Edward. It is not me." I said, peering at myself in the mirror. I looked startled and shaken. My hair was haphazard and my brown eyes were wide with something that I could not distinguish. "This is about Mike Newton. I think Masen is planning on killing him."

The other side of the phone went exceptionally quiet. I almost thought that Edward's phone had lost its signal. I paced back and forward to stall for his reply. I could only imagine what was going on inside of his head.

The reply came rather untimely. His voice was low and stern. "I think you should be relieved that he is not focused on you at the moment."

I was aghast with horror. I could not believe that Edward would fix his mouth to say that. I had not been expecting such an indifferent reaction. I thought that he would have been livid.

"Edward, you cannot be serious. Mike does not deserve to be murdered." I felt my lips trembling towards the end of my sentence. This was all like a movie. It was horrible and I did not belong in the middle of it.

"What would you like for me to do Bella?" He asked, the tone of his voice was much harder now. "It isn't as if I can turn around and come back."

"There must be something that can be done to stop him." I understood that Edward had been through the notion of Masen killing plenty of times. It was something that he did not approve of but he was used to it by now. I on the other hand was not used to it. I had never had someone close to me be killed. Mike might not be the most favored in my book but I would surely miss him if something were to happen to him. I would feel oddly at fault if I did not try to help in some way.

"It's best not to get into the practice of trying to stop Masen." Edward's voice was still void of feeling. It was as if he gave no regard to Mike's well-being. He hardly seemed like a hero to me now. "I don't want you doing anything stupid Bella. Just stay out of it."

"Edward you're an enabler!" I shrieked irate, I could not contain the frenzy of emotions that were flooding throughout me. There was an unrelenting pressure in my chest that almost brought me to tears. I thought that I could count on Edward. It was not fair that he only chose to save certain people and not others.

"I cannot hope to save everyone Bella." He said this as if it were something terrible that he'd had to force himself to accept. "I would hate to see anyone die by Masen's hand. I will promise something to you if you agree to make a promise to me in return."

"What do you want me to promise you?" I had a feeling that I already knew the answer to that question.

"Do not under any circumstance try to be a hero. It would be rather foolish of you." I tried hard not to become offended at his implications that I was not able to stand up for myself.

"I promise." I would work hard to keep this promise. I would do my best but I could not be for sure. Sometimes people acted on impulse. "Now, what do you promise me?

"I promise to do my best to make it back in time before Masen has the chance to harm anyone. He is much too weak to hunt or even overpower anyone for that matter. The only way he can get to his prey is if Alice brings them to him already immobilized and Alice is quite small. I imagine that it will take them some time to complete this plan. I should be back before then."

**~~~~TOB**

I did not fall asleep with much ease last night. Jasper and Rosalie kept giving me funny looks but said nothing otherwise. When I laid down for rest in the guest room, I could not help but feel a little perturbed. It was an eerie feeling. The only thing that would come to me when slumber crept near was nightmares.

Rosalie, Jasper, and their mother were not incredibly close. They were more connected with their father than they were with Mrs. Hale. I did not understand that fact but it was the truth. Their mother did not prepare breakfast for them every morning like my mother had done for me. There were no kisses goodbyes or bids of good days.

We grabbed pop tarts out of the cupboards, locked the doors, and was on our way to school. Rosalie and Jasper were not treating me any differently, but I could tell that they knew something suspicious was going on between me and the Cullens. They did not speak upon their suspicions however. I was grateful of that fact. They were usually not keen about holding their tongues.

We arrived in the parking lot before the Cullen's Volvo. The Volvo came a couple minutes after us. There were only two of them inside of the massive contraption however. Emmett and Alice.

"Good morning Bella." Emmett stepped towards me with warmth inside of his dark eyes, he muffled my hair playfully and went on to chat with Rosalie and Jasper.

Alice stayed beside the Volvo however, several feet away from me and looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Hello Alice." I smiled at her nicely, it was best to act as if I did not know what she was up to.

"Good morning, Isabella." She offered me something that resembled a smile but it wasn't quite there.

I tilted my head to the side in curiosity, not noticing anything else in that moment but how great of a liar Alice was. She was painfully beautiful and it was a shame that she had to use that beauty for such deception.

"Heads up Em!" One of the fellow football players would say, before launching the ball across the height of many cars. The aerial was aimed toward Emmett, coming in our direction, but the throw was not all that clean. Emmett had to dive in order to successfully catch the ball and he inadvertently ended up bumping into me.

I was knocked halfway onto my feet by the force of his weight, my books toppled right out of my clammy hands, and my bottle of water rolled away towards the claws of The Cullen's pricey automobile.

"Damn, I'm sorry Bella." Emmett helped me up with a sincere smile. I knew that he had not done it on purpose. It was not a big deal. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head, smiling lightly at his boyish tendencies. It was crazy how each one of the Cullens were so distinct and yet all alike in one very unique way. I bent down to pick up my books and that was when I noticed the necklace hanging around my neck.

My eyes widened marginally as a slight realization rammed into me. Emmett had been able to approach me. He had even touched me. That would mean that he was not a person that I should have to look out for. Alice on the other hand had remained in the same spot she'd been in since she'd arrived.

It was not as if she had not wanted to come nearer. I was well aware of just how much she wanted to appear as if she were my friend. The fact of the matter was that she could not come near me. She meant me harm just as Masen did and that was why she was rooted so still in her spot.

I allowed my gaze to fall back towards her. She was looking at me with a peculiar expression on her face and her little fingers were wrapped around my water bottle.

I outstretched my arm to receive it, beckoning her to bring it over to me. It was only what a normal person what have done. She looked down at the booties covering her feet but made no movement of her own.

"My hands are full." I explained, which would appear to be the reason why I did not want to walk over to her to receive the bottle myself. "Just put it on top of my books for me."

She opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it was got caught in her throat. She looked terribly uneasy in that moment. It only took me a second to see it. Something flashed over her entire being and I saw how ugly she truly was on the inside. Her legs trembled slightly but came no closer to me than before. She wanted to hurt me more than I ever knew. She could not even move out of the spot that she was in.

Terror flooded me. I saw evil inside of her. I saw it inside of her dark-lined eyes, I saw it in the tiny fist that was balled at her side in what appeared to be frustration, and I saw it in the slow curl of her lips.

She stooped slightly, as if she were to brush an invisible speck off of her shoes. She rolled the bottle ever so slowly over to me.

Our eyes were to meet one more time before the morning bell rang. I felt Rosalie's warm hand wrap around my wrist as she began to pull me towards the building. I looked behind my shoulder once we'd gotten to the entrance doors and was surprised to see Mike Newton walking up to Alice.

She was just starting to come out of her frozen position.

I stopped abruptly in my tracks and that caused Rosalie to be pulled into a halt as well. The people that were flooding the halls around us had to accommodate their walking in order not to bump into us and be bumped into themselves.

"What the hell Bella?" Rosalie barked, after seeing that I was not paying attention to her or to the people that were irritated by our disruption in the flow of travel. "What the fuck are you looking at?"

I did not reply. I only watched nervously.

"Did you think Jasper was lying last night?" Rosalie asked, as if she could not understand why I found the sight of Alice and Mike so fascinating. "That little bitch wants to waste her time with Mike so let her."

Rosalie tried to tug me into a start but I refused to walk away from the sight.

"Why are you spying on them, you little weirdo." Rosalie said this playfully but there was a bitterness inside of her tone because she was becoming irritated with my unusual behavior. "Why do you even care so much? Is there something wrong Bella?"

Just as the words left Rosalie's mouth, Alice and Mike both turned their undivided attention towards us. They were still some ways across the parking lot and we were just barely inside of the building. The look on Alice's face was one that I'd never forget. What I saw inside of her eyes was true hatred and I had never witnessed it so passionately inside of someone before. She said something to Mike very quickly and his eyes narrowed. Whatever she said was not appreciated by him.

To end it all, Alice leaned up and placed a very swift kiss onto Mike's lips. I did not know what that was all about but there was an ominous feeling flooding my core. My stomach was hollow with an incredible anxiety. Poisoned butterflies were taking their turns fluttering inside of me.

"Fuck them." Rosalie muttered, flipping her hair indignantly. She tugged me along and this time I went with her because I had no idea of what else what to do. "The Cullens have been nothing but weird since they've moved here."

We trekked down the hall like we did every morning. Rosalie would drop me off at my class because it was along the way to her first period. We only made a minimal amount of small talk.

"Yeah, there's never been anything more terrifyingly intriguing to happen in Forks since the Cullens moved into that old house on Hallow Hill."

"What is so goddamned intriguing about them?" Rosalie demanded to know, as if she were suddenly not okay with the idea of me being associated with them at all. "I think we should just cut them off Bella. We should stop talking to them."

"I wish that was an option." I replied lowly, not bothering to elaborate on what I meant by the statement.

"It is an option. I'm sure there will be more studs for you to mindlessly indulge yourself in." Rosalie nudged me with a slight smile on her face, though the happiness did not completely resonate. "It was fun at first but I refuse to chase anyone. They act like they shit gold or something. Masen is the only one that is half decent."

I let her believe that fact. It would be worth nothing to try and prove her wrong. She would not understand the fact of it anyway. Masen was the member of the Cullen family that should be feared the most.

Rosalie left me at my first period class and time began to fly past me. I was preoccupied with way too many thoughts to focus on anything that was remotely school related. I was focusing on the thought of what damage Alice could possibly be creating by toying Mike around. I was also wondering if Edward would be able to make it back in time before something potentially devastating occurred.

The first three classes passed. I was happy to be going to my study hall. I wanted to get to the library and isolate myself from the chaos of the world for a second. Between the passing period I went to the bathroom. I had been holding since third hour and I needed to relieve myself before I walked all the way to library on the fourth floor.

I did what I had to do and started back on my way. I was surprised to find Mike walking the halls. The bell had already rang to begin fourth period. Either he was planning to be late or he was skipping class altogether. I did not care what his intentions were. I was happy that I had caught him alone.

"Hey Mike." I called, catching up to him as he rounded the corner into the science hallway. "Wait up!"

He did not make an immediate effort to slow down for me. I had to wonder why he was so aloof all of a sudden. It was definitely whatever Alice had said to him in the parking lot. He would have jumped at a chance to converse with me under normal circumstances.

He stopped at his locker and turned to look my way. "What do you want Bella?"

"Do we have some sort of problem?" I asked blankly, looking up into the same familiar eyes I've been knowing since kindergarten. Mike and I were never close friends but we were always cordial with each other. His new attitude around me was bewildering.

"I know how much of a fool you and your boyfriend made out of me Bella." His tone was especially accusing, though I had no idea of what he was actually talking about. "Alice told me everything. I didn't know you were such a bitch."

I shrank back from the bite of his words. It was almost as if his anger had singed me somehow. I did not let his offensive language rile me up. I knew that he was only under the impression that Alice had set for him. I did not make a fool of him and I was pretty sure that my imaginary boyfriend hadn't either.

"I don't even understand why you would believe her." I did not want to talk down upon her but it simply came out as contempt.

"Why would she lie to me? She is the guys sister. She would know." He crossed his arms over his chest in some kind of dislike. I could see his unfavorable feelings written directly across his face. He saw no point in hiding them.

"Well, can you tell me what she said to you then?"

"She told me that you and Edward went around telling people that I let him punk me that day I had approached Masen. The football team thinks that I am scared of him and they keep talking about how easily he waltzed his way into Forks and got in your pants. I've been trying to get your attention for years. Do you even know how humiliating that is?"

"I can tell you right now that I did not say that. I'm pretty sure I can vouch for Edward too." I kept my face completely earnest. It was completely ridiculous how easily Alice was able to get him worked up.

"Are you telling me that Alice is lying to me? Who spread the rumor then? It's all around the school. Don't try to pretend like you haven't heard people talking about it."

I actually hadn't paid attention to the gossip today. I did not tell Mike that.

"Yes, I'm telling you that Alice is lying and I don't know who started that rumor. I'm sorry. You have to understand."

"Why would Alice lie to me?" He was looking down at me as if I was some kind of idiot. He was looking at me in a way that proved who his loyalty sat with. I did not want to know what she had done to get his mind so souped up. He did not realize that I had his best intentions at hand. Now I knew how impossibly frustrating it was to try and help someone that did not want to help themselves.

I commended Edward even more than before. He was not like me. He did not lose his cool so easily.

"Because she's a fucking bitch!" My voice rose octaves way past the level I had intended my volume to be on. Mike's eyebrows raised in surprise at my outburst.

"No, your boyfriend is the bitch." His pride was too much in the way. He would let that ego ruin him. "And I'm going to make him look like one when he comes back."

I ignored the best of his threats. I was not worried about Edward being hurt. I was worried about Mike's safety and he seemed to be taking nothing that I was saying into consideration. It was like talking to a brick wall or something.

"She's no good for you Mike." My voice was as soft as it was going to get. I felt sorry for him.

"Oh Bella, you almost sound jealous." I ignored the way he seemed fiendishly delighted by that fact.

We stood looking at each other for the next several moments. The time passed by slowly between us. The silence we shared spoke more than we had done within this meaningless ten minute conversation. I looked down at my shoe and noticed the necklace around my neck once again.

A thought came to my mind. A self-less one. It was a stupid thought.

I took the necklace off and held it between my fingers for a couple of moments. I only had a short time to contemplate before I made the decision. "I know a way that you can tell whether or not Alice is being real with you."

"Oh really?" He raised his blond brows again. His facial expression was entirely sarcastic. "Tell me how then."

"If she stays away from you then you know she was just messing with your head. I'm going to text her when I go to the library and tell her that I talked to you. I'm going to tell her that you know the truth now."

Of course, that was not what was really going to happen. I was going to give Mike the necklace that was protecting me from evil and Alice would not be able to come near him. I might be the next target on her list but at least I would know that an innocent person did not get hurt without me trying to help.

"Here, I want you to take this."

I reached forward and tried to put the necklace around Mike's neck but he stopped me very abruptly. He grabbed my wrist within his with a roughness I had never experienced before. My eyes wandered up to his own for an understanding. What the fuck was this kid's problem?

"Do you think I'm a fucking idiot Bella?" He snatched the necklace away from my hands and chuckled bitterly. He dangled the only thing that would save him carelessly in front of his face. "Do you think I'm actually going to wear this? You want Alice to see this so she can think that I'm still trying to get with you?"

"No Mike, that's not why I..." My sentence broke off the instance he took the two ends of the necklace and tore them apart. I did not know how he was able to do it. The necklace had seemed lightweight but I did not think it was cheap. I believed it to be the way the necklace was constructed so loosely was why it was able to break so easily. The loops that were interlinked to make the chain of the necklace fell to pieces, they hit the floor beneath our feet with deafening clanks. The cross was the last thing to fall and its drop was so quick that I barely had time to comprehend what was happening. The vial burst the moment it touched the ground and the small splash of holy water cleansed the floor.

I stared down at the mess. It was no longer a necklace. There were only loops of what a chain had once been, tiny shards of glass, and a puddle so small my index finger could wipe it up.

My eyes were widened with fear, when I looked back at Mike he seemed to notice this. A confusion crossed his face. He probably could not understand why I suddenly looked so terrified.

The possibility of what could now happen to the both of us was petrifying. I shook my head achingly slow as dread encompassed my entire body. "You have absolutely no idea what you've just done."


	12. THE REBEL

**Disclaimer : I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

**I want to give an immense thanks to all of the people who support and review this story.**

**You guys are one of my main inspirations.**

**Please continue to read, favorite, subscribe, and review.**

**xoxoxo**

* * *

><p><strong>Check out my new story called Legend! Let me know what you think!<strong>

**ALICE POV**

I did not like to think of myself as a bad person. I did not believe that I deserved to be labeled that way. Everything that I did for Masen was simply out of love. Family members were supposed to stick together. That was simple. That was all I knew. No one came before blood. No one else mattered. We were the superiority and we would do whatever we needed to stay that way.

When my family began to lose their sense of unity I swore that I'd do absolutely everything that was in my power to ensure Masen's well-being. I had no doubts that he'd do the same for me if the circumstances were reversed.

I believed in him wholeheartedly. Despite whatever his harrowing twin had to say about it.

Edward was the one who caused the rift between us all. We used to be a single unit. We survived off of each other. That was what the word family meant. Then Edward met a girl and he lost his way. I would never forgive him for the confusion and pain that he'd caused us all.

He could burn in hell with the love of his life...

"You don't have to do this." Masen insisted casually, I found him laying across the couches in the living room, upon my hasty return from school. He did not look much worse than he did the previous night and I was slightly relieved by that fact. He had been too weak to attend his classes this morning. I could see the pain written plainly across his facial features. Still he managed to flash me a charming smile. "I will understand if you're not strong enough to carry through with it."

I looked at him quite wryly. He acted like he would not care if I changed my mind about carrying out the deed that I'd promised him, but I already knew that to be his way of testing my devotion. I was nowhere near as fickle as our brother. I would never turn my back on him and that was the truth.

"I wish you could have faith in my loyalty." I sat beside him and brushed the back of my hand against his cool cheek. His piercing eyes held me captive. There was a glint inside of them. Some kind of darkness that I could not explain. "I am not going to change my mind no matter what."

"You know..." He reached forward and twirled a piece of my wavy hair around his finger. The demonic expression he wore so attractively thrilled me."You are dangerously lovely, Mary Alice."

"Mike will be meeting me in no less than an hour." I announced charmingly, sending a wry smile his way. Mike Newton's humanly weaknesses would be his demise. A man with a weak mind was no more than a dirty hog. Absolutely useless. Him and his raging hormones brought this consequence on himself. "Oh, that reminds me..."

I was not heart less. I'd just learned to used my heart less.

"Of what?" He asked, watching the way my brows scrunched together in frustration. "This must have something to do with Isabella."

I absolutely despised the way that Masen spoke her name with such fervor. I could not understand what it was about that girl that seemed to captivate his attention. He regarded her with such importance, as if he actually cared something for her. She was very typical if you asked me. Her hair was dark brown, her eyes were dark brown, her skin was pale, and she was a petite little thing. I would have understood him more if he'd gone after someone like Rosalie.

All I knew was that I would be entirely happy when he finally killed her and she was no more a disturbance between our relationship. The time that Masen would usually spend with me was being wasted away on her, and worse than that, he seemed to enjoy spending his time with her.

"I saw something very interesting today." I looked at him, a slight smile twitching at the corner of my mouth. Edward was being very diligent with his feat. He was doing everything that was in his power to save the moronic girl. Again, I could not understand where his drive was pulled from. He had never tried so persistently to thwart Masen's plans. What did he find so impossibly valuable within Isabella? She could offer him nothing of importance. He must know that she would never be able to replace the one that he'd lost so long ago. "There was a charm hanging about her neck."

Masen saw to this information with great humor. He began to chuckle lightly which quickly transitioned into a coughing fit. I hated to see him this way. So weak and fragile.

"Edward has simply outdone himself." Masen commented, once his struggles had calmed. There was a coarseness to his tone that exemplified his sarcasm. His confidence was not daunted. His determination no less severe. Edward could not stop his twin and I knew that to be true. "She must have found it quite odd when you were unable to approach her."

"All of that doesn't matter now." I clarified happily, Mike had ruined the charm into uselessness anyway. It was a pity that he did not heed her warnings. She had only been trying to help him. Now she had no way of even helping herself. There was nothing protecting Isabella from the forces that lurked against her. "The necklace was broken and now she is defenseless."

"And that just won't do any good." Masen replied, dull green eyes flickering towards the clock that hung above the television set. It was almost time for us to set out. We had things that needed to be done. We had darkness to unleash. "Should we start heading out now?"

I nodded my head silently, showing him a smile of determination. I was prepared for what I must do. I was not hesitant in the slightest. It was something that must be done for the sake of his health. I would do absolutely anything when it came to helping him. That was the truth.

**...**

An hour later I was submerged within the fog bank behind Forks High School. The mist was building an impenetrable layer between me and everything that was on the outskirts of the trees. I was in deep. So deep that it would take hours or maybe even days for someone to recover my body if I were to go missing.

"I didn't think you'd come." I announced, when I spotted Mike emerging from out of the lot of trees he'd climbed through to end up where I was stationed. I had instructed him to meet me here. It was deliberate on my part but of course he did not know that.

"I would never stand you up." He declared, flashing me the type of smile that told me just how skilled he was with charming girls. "I'm not that kind of guy Alice."

"Oh really?" A smile of my own lifted at the corners of my lips. He was especially that kind of guy. He definitely wasn't hard to see through. Mike Newton was a blank canvas and the easiest target that I could hope to find. "Tell me what kind of guy are you?"

"I'll be whoever you want me to be." He stepped closer to me and I allowed him to infiltrate my personal space. His blue eyes were undiluted and eager. I could see just how much his ego was boosted from the attention that I was showing him.

"Well, you might be surprised..." I trailed off, tilting my head to the side with the ease of flirtation. Dark hair fell over my face. I looked up at him through dark lashes. "But I am a sucker for bad boys."

"I can be that." He said carefully, he closed the rest of the distance between us but he did not touch me. He was looking down at me with some sort of expectancy. He smelled of sweat and boy's cologne. It was not unpleasant but extremely potent. I liked the way he pretended to be so confident.

"Oh really?" I repeated my words from earlier, though this time there was more of a challenge in my tone. "Then show me."

He did not need much more encouragement than that. He launched for my lips, capturing them between my own in a ridiculously dominating kiss. His arms wrapped around my waist and his tongue wrapped around my tongue. This was how I knew he was not as experienced as he pretended to be. His tactics were too sloppy and way too impulsive. I would not have been surprised if Mike Newton was still a virgin.

"I want to fuck you." He would say, after pulling away from my lips. He relocated his wet mouth on my neck. The sensation was anything but thrilling however. I would have to go home immediately after this and scrub myself clean of his uncleanliness. "I wanted you the moment I saw you walk into the school building."

Before I could even respond effectively, I was being backed up into a nearby tree. My back pressed into the rigid edges of the tree's rough bark while Mike pressed into me. I could feel every inch of his hormone induced body.

"Mike." I said his name very breathy-like, this was enough to make him believe that he was actually doing something right. Best actress award should definitely be given to me. I could almost make myself believe that I was enjoying his company.

"What?" He asked, looking down at me with hooded eyes. He was ready to pounce. He was like a lion that was waiting on the perfect time to attack. There was something odd about that however. In all actuality, Mike was the prey and I was the predator.

I switched positions with him coyly, backing him up against the rigid trunk of the tree. I pressed against him slightly. "Are you sure that you want this?"

There was more than one meaning behind my choice of words. Of course Mike did not know that. His mind was only focused on one thing.

He flashed me a cocky smile, one that I wanted to wipe right off of his face. "I think you're the only one who's getting cold feet."

"Oh, you misunderstand." I showed him a little smile of my own. Both of us found two entirely different aspects amusing. "I've been waiting for this moment for some time now."

"Yeah?" I liked the way his eyes lit up with excitement. It would entertain me when I got to witness that excitement leaking out of him. If he wasn't so much of a pig maybe I'd feel a little bad for him.

"Close your eyes." I suggested seductively, running the tips of my fingers over his smooth lids. He did as I said without any hesitation. That was his first mistake. "I have a little surprise for you."

I bent down. I made sure to do this in a way that fooled him into believing he was in for some kind of treat. I ran my hand down his torso and hips. This made something inside of him twitch.

My hands did not reach for the part of his body that was aching to be met with my touch. My hands reached for the dagger that was hitched inside of my boot. This was where I cut the bullshit and got to the point of this all. I never had any feelings for Mike. There was nothing about him that intrigued me.

The truth of the matter was that there was only a selective group of people that I actually cared about. Family was my devotion. Anyone else was not a matter of my concern. They were only around for my amusement and to use for my advantage.

My dagger was not just any dagger. It was a charmed dagger but it was charmed with something a little more sinister than what had been inside of Isabella's necklace. This weapon was made for immobilizing an enemy, not for protecting yourself against them.

I plunged the curved blade into Michael's stomach, deep into the contours of tissues that ruptured against the sharp edges of my blade. The pain must have stunned him before the paralysis did.

He fell onto the wet, forest ground wide-eyed, looking up at me with irises that beheld fear and confusion. My adrenaline was pumping now that the red had shown itself to me. I stabbed him again, ignoring the way he moaned in pain. The sound was not a deterrent. It only egged me on more. I had to get this done right.

I could not have him die. I needed him alive when he got to Masen. For some reason, the demon could not feed on the organs of a deceased person. They had to be alive while he fed.

I tucked the dagger back into my boot and grabbed Mike Newton's arm. I had some ways to drag him before we made it to where Masen was so deliberately stationed.

"It's nothing personal." I would say, flashing my innocence towards the frightened boy. His white t-shirt was more damaged from the dirt on the ground than the blood that was seeping through his stomach wound. His eyes were trained on mine. But maybe that was because he could not move them. There was no expression there. "Now, don't look at me like that."

I chuckled to myself quietly, struggling to pull him deeper beyond the trees. It took all of the strength I had to move him through the denseness. He was like a heavy sack. I was panting and almost out of breath by time I got to my destination.

Masen was where he said he'd be, leaning against the one tree that towered over all of the others. He was steadily waning, eyes almost completely shut with exhaustion. A feeling of dread filled the pit of my stomach. It was obvious that he was dying. I did not want to think about what would have happened if Mike would not have stepped into my trap so easily.

"Brother." I went to him, running my fingers through his bronze tresses in affection. I tried to ignore the strands of hair that fell into my palm from the maneuver. "I did it."

His eyes opened barely, onyx black was the only color that I could recognize in them. He opened his mouth to speak but words did not come out. His body heaved and a puddle of black liquid came spewing from between his chapped lips.

"Masen, come on." I prompted hurriedly, taking his hand into my own. His skin was ice cold now. I tried to tug him towards Mike's body but he did not move. He was too weak now.

"Sister." His words were as faint as ever, a whisper amongst this ghostly night. He wiped his mouth and tried to focus his eyes on me. "I need you to bring him to me."

I was not confused with his words. I knew exactly what they meant. I had already caught his prey. I had immobilized him and dragged him close enough. Masen's health however, had finally depleted into it's weakest capacity. He could not attack. He wanted me to cut Mike Newton up and feed his parts to him.

Only someone cold-blooded would consent to that, or maybe someone who knew that some things had to be sacrificed in order to get the results that you were looking for. I did not hesitate.

I went back over to Mike, grabbed the hood of his jacket, and dragged him beside Masen. The boy was bleeding profusely and his eyes were still staring into mine. His cold stare could not make me regret my actions. I bet that he wished he would have listened to Bella now.

I took the dagger and plunged it into his chest. I did not stop there. I kept going. It was a frenzy sort of. I was desperate to get my brother some nourishment. I stabbed, sliced, ripped, and tore. My hands, face, and clothes were covered with blood.

I picked up a piece of meat. I did not know what it was. It just looked like a slab of bloody, pink flesh. I swallowed back my disgust and put the meat up to Masen's mouth. I had never witnessed him feed before but I knew that it was a ghastly sight. I would have never imagined so much blood. It coated everything. It was sticky, and deep, and red, and Masen loved it.

I only had to feed him for a little while. It was almost like magic. I could see color returning to his skin with every bite he took. I literally witnessed the transition of his dull bronze hair becoming more vibrant and full. His eyes lightened from black to green, and he wasn't even halfway through with Mike's body.

"Alice." He smiled at me darkly, his mouth was ringed red and dripping. "You don't have to watch this."

"I know." I replied, my voice was small and short. I had never witnessed how animalistic Masen became during his feedings. It was the most hypnotic and beautiful thing that I'd ever seen. "I want to."

"You are..." He looked at me wryly, as he leaned over Mike's torso. I watched him lean down and sink his teeth into the stained flesh. He ripped a chunk of the boy's body away as easily as a knife would slice through butter. A spray of pulsating redness splashed onto his face. "Incredibly beautiful..."

"You think so?" I asked, unable to take my eyes off of the sight of Masen tearing this unfortunate boy to pieces.

"Yes." He replied huskily, his posture and everything about him was primal. I saw him for what he really was, and I knew that it was dangerous being so close to him now. He was in a frenzy. Something that I could not comprehend. I almost felt something like fear but I knew that he would not hurt me.

His narrowed eyes and twisted mouth said otherwise though.

"Even more so than Isabella?" I asked, before I could stop the words from blurting out. This halted his movements for a moment.

His blazing green eyes widened, a flash of amusement worked its way through his fierce facial expressions. The smile that turned up at the corner of his lips made my stomach churn. "Yes sister, even more than Isabella Swan."

**BELLA POV**

"Edward, I'm sorry that I called so late." It was three in the morning. Rosalie and Jasper were asleep in their bedrooms like they should have been. It was way past the hour of anyone's bedtime. I just could not make myself sleep however. Masen was the only thing I saw whenever I would close my eyes. "It's just that I can't sleep."

"Is there something bothering you?" His voice was groggy, I could tell that I had just woken him out of sleep. "I mean besides the fact that my brother wants to kill you."

I did not offer his morbid joke the laughter that it deserved. I was pretty sure when I told him what happened today, he would not be sending very many jokes my way.

"I have to tell you something." I replied quietly, sitting up inside of the bed. The Hale's guest room was right in the middle of the hall. It was between Rosalie's and Jasper's room. I did not want to wake them up. The last thing that I needed was for one of them to come barging in here. They were already pretty irritated with my odd behavior.

"What is it Bella?" The tone of his voice was less filled with sleep and more filled with interest, I could imagine that he was sitting up in bed too. "Please don't bring up the Mike thing again."

"It isn't that." I clarified quickly, deciding not to hold his indifference towards Mike's well-being against him. I was still shocked at how nonchalant Edward had approached the idea of Masen going after Mike instead of me. It made me think that Masen was not the only twin that had a certain darkness inside of him. "But it does have to do with Mike."

"Well, what is it?" There was something in his voice, a suspicion that seemed to be rising.

"I tried to talk to him today." My eyes dropped towards my lap as I leaned back against the headboard, there was darkness all around me. I couldn't see anything and that perturbed me. I knew what lurked in the darkness. I wasn't ready to face those nightmares without Edward's help.

"I hope that you kept your mouth shut Isabella." His warning was slightly ominous. I knew that his family was important to him. He valued their safety even if he did not get along with them. I would never put him at jeopardy like that. "Giving the wrong person information could be very dangerous."

"I didn't tell him anything about your family." I made that clarification very quickly, I wanted him to know that he could trust me in at least some kind of way. "Your secrets are safe."

"What did you talk about then?"

"I tried to tell him to stay away from Alice but it did not work effectively." I could not stop thinking about the pure hatred I had witnessed inside of Alice's gaze. She had smiled at me so cheerfully just a few days ago. I did not know what I'd done to pull such a violent reaction from her.

"Men are ruled by their hormones not logic." He said this quite simply, as if I should have expected that. "Not to mention that Alice is incredibly manipulative."

"When I realized that he wasn't going to listen to me..." I trailed off nervously, I did not want to inform Edward of my idiotic deed. I knew it would piss him off. He had warned me to be careful before he left. As usual, I did not listen. "I tried to give him my necklace so that he could protect himself."

The other end of the phone went silent momentarily, as Edward attempted to take in my fluster of words. He would probably decide that protecting me was too much of a hassle. He would leave me to fend for myself. I would not blame him if he did.

"Do you think this all to be a joke?" He snapped fiercely, the anger in his voice was more profound than the volume it had risen to. "Masen wants to kill you Bella. I'm starting to think that you're amused by that fact."

"You're wrong."

"Then why the fuck do you keep walking straight into his traps?" Edward was very livid, his fury was enough to render me mute for a couple of seconds. I did not have a proper answer to his question. I was sure that it had been meant rhetorically anyway. "I don't know how much more I can do to save a girl who is a magnet for danger."

"Please...Edward." I could not keep the vulnerability from entering my voice. I was on the verge of breaking down and he was the only person that I could seek comfort from. I was alone, and frightened, and angry. I never asked for any of this. "Can you come back?"

He was silent again, a fluster of emotions passed between the two of us. Edward cared for me. I did not know in what context but I was sure it was more than simply wanting to thwart Masen's plans that kept him so adamantly determined to save me. I might have been the closest thing that Edward had to a friend. Despite his irritation, I was sure that he'd protect me until the end.

"I'll leave tomorrow night Bella." His promise was so soft. It was so easy to let myself believe in him. "In the meantime, try not to get yourself killed."

"I'll do my best." I replied sarcastically, allowing the smallest of smiles to rest upon my lips.

"I'm being completely serious." He said this sternly, his tone was not harsh anymore. He might have realized that he'd gone too far. I was glad that he had calmed down. "Do all that you can to stay away from Masen and Alice. Don't go anywhere alone. Don't go home if Charlie isn't there. Try to get some sleep. You have school tomorrow."

"I don't want to keep you up." I laid back into my bed, snuggling deep into the safety of my blankets. I wasn't quite ready to end this conversation however. There was something about Edward's voice that I found soothing. I closed my eyes. "Could you just stay on the phone with me until I fell asleep?"

"If that is what you want." He replied quietly, giving me no impression if it was something he wanted to do or if it was something that burdened him.

"Can you sing?" I wondered curiously, accepting the waves of lethargy that were floating around me. Talking to Edward had soothed my insomnia. He was all that I needed to relax. I hope he knew how much I really appreciated him.

"I can hum." A dark lullaby began to lull my senses to sleep, he hummed softly and almost silently. The harder I tried to listen, the more tired I grew.

I was knocked out in a matter of seconds.

**...**

The next morning was exactly how I had expected it to be. Rosalie and Jasper didn't speak much to me during the brief car ride to school. The cold shoulders that they were giving me hurt, but I guess that it was for the best.

Their chances in getting involved with the dangers of the Cullen family was lessening now that they were deciding to stay distant with me. That was the way I wanted it. I would lose their friendship if that meant keeping them safe. My loyalty towards them was far more sincere than they actually thought.

They did not walk me to class today. They went their separate ways with each other. I liked that they always stuck together. It made me feel more secure with the fact of their safety.

I went to my locker alone, trying not to feel the sting of their aloofness. The halls were teeming with an abundance of early-morning students. This was what rush hour looked like in Forks. I could barely search through my locker without getting bumped into.

At least I wasn't in the hallways alone. I felt more safe that way.

"Good morning." My body came to attention at once. The soft voice that drifted in behind me was not unfamiliar. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up with apprehension. This was the very demon that I had been planning to avoid. "It's a great day to be alive."

I closed my locker abruptly, turning slowly to face the harrowing boy. I was surprised that he was a lot closer than I had expected him to be. There was a very minimal amount of space between us. He leaned forward, grinning at my sign of discomfort, and planted each of his hands on the lockers on either side of me.

Now, I was trapped.

"Masen." His named rolled off of my tongue very shakily, my brows knitted together as I appraised his startling appearance. He was vibrant and lush. His skin was smooth alabaster and without blemishes, there were no signs of purple shadows underneath his eyes any longer. Bright green was an understatement when it came to describing the jubilant color of his alluring irises. The mess on top of his head was luminous, shining in the deepest of bronzes. I would have mistaken him for Edward if the dark glint inside of his eyes had not revealed itself to me so confidently. Only Masen could smile and look impossibly demonic at the same time. "What have you done?"

"Nothing incredibly bad." He admitted lightly, lips lifting into a wicked smirk. "You must not doubt my innocence."

It was evident to me now. Masen had fed on something yesterday. There was no way that his health could have returned to him without a means of nourishment. This fact chilled me to the core. With his new-found health, Masen was now faster and stronger than what any human could comprehend. There was no way I could stand a chance against him, Edward would not be here until tomorrow, and the look on his face showed me that he had plans for me.

"What do you want?" I ask desperately, looking around to catch the eye of any of my school mates. This looked relatively normal to them. It seemed like a flirtatious conversation between a boy and girl that liked each other, not a predator promising his prey that there was no way to escape his grasp.

"You're an intriguing little thing." He moved a piece of my hair away from my face and ran the back of his hand across my cheek. He was no longer cool to touch. He was actually the opposite. There seemed to be heat radiating off of his body. Our mere proximity kept me warm. "I like to learn of your absurdities."

"You like playing senseless mind games with people." I accused sharply, scowling at him. My gaze was stormy and locked onto his own. It was useless for him to pretend. I knew that he was not my friend. I knew of his intentions. I'd rather him just get it over with than continue to toy with my emotions.

"You sound a lot like my twin." He chuckled at my irritation, though I don't think that he found my aversion humorous. "You've been talking to him a lot lately."

The morning bell rang. Masen and I were the only two students who made no move. I wanted to try and push him out of the way. I wanted to rush to class or ask someone for help, but I knew very well not to bring anyone else into this. It did not matter where I ran to. Masen would still find me if that was what he desired.

It wasn't long before we were left alone.

"That isn't any of your concern." I turned my head away from him, trying not to fall into the depths of his emotionless eyes.

"Oh, but it is." He grabbed my face between his hands and forced me to look at him. I noticed the frightening dominance within his expression at once. He seemed to have darkened at my sign of antipathy towards him. "You'll learn that I don't like to share my things."

"I am not yours." I replied indignantly, it was a big act. I was just trying to appear brave. Inside, I had never been more afraid in my life.

Masen knew this to be true, a small smirk settled upon his mouth. He tilted his head to the side, messy tendrils fell into his face. He regarded me with perceptive eyes.

"I like this confidence that Edward has instilled within you." He nodded his head slowly, dark eyes holding me captive. "I'd like to rub it in his face when I have you screaming out my name."

My eyes widened infinitesimally at the content of his words. I tried to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat, trying hard to keep myself thinking logically and not with my hormones. Masen knew exactly how many assets he had and he did not hesitate to use them for his advantage.

"You'd quite like that." He said surely, leaning towards my ear as if to tell me a secret. There was something more than lust inside of his tone. There was something possessive and dangerous lacing his words. "Wouldn't you?"

I remained silent, shaking my head to dispel the fog that was diminishing my thinking capabilities. Masen knew exactly what to say. He had said so many right things in his life that it came effortlessly to him now.

His soft lips found their way towards my neck, scaling the length of my throat with scorching kisses. I did not push him away. I couldn't have even if I'd had the strength to. My arms were trapped against my sides and he was not allowing enough space between us for me to move them. He had me right where he wanted me, exactly how he wanted me.

His teeth bit down onto my skin softly, my eyes closed without my permission. I refused to let myself relinquish to his manipulation so easily.

"Masen I want you to stop." My voice was less convincing than I had hoped, there was a hint somewhere in my voice that indicated how much I actually enjoyed the feeling of his lips on me. Masen was not unaware. He knew this to be my weakness. That was why he used it against me so often.

"I don't think you really want me to." His lips were still on my neck, undoubtedly leaving marks that added to his new possessive streak. He moved his hips against mine, eliminating the minimal amount of space that had been between us. I could not stop the small gasp that escaped my pursed lips.

"I want...I want you to just get it over it." I replied, my tone was coming out breathy. My willpower was slipping between my fingers like tiny grains of sand. "Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?"

He grew still for a moment, lips halted at the crook of my neck. "That's very brave talk."

He withdrew from me slightly, just enough so that he could look into my eyes. His were narrowed and fierce. He looked ferocious, wild, and any other word that was an adjective for savage. His head cocked to the side slowly, I tried to stomach the terror that was encompassing my entire body.

"Do you think that you can take pain, Isabella?" He watched me intently, basking in the high that he got from playing with people so craftily. "I don't believe that you can."

"I'd rather die than be your play thing."

"No, trust me." He laughed inwardly, bright with ominousness. "You would not."

"What are you waiting for?" I cried softly, looking up at him with anger and fear. We both knew of his nature. I was not fool.

"You must not fucking understand." He snapped, my eyes went wide from the venom that coated his words. His facial expression crumbled away into annoyance. It only took one instant to see how vicious he could become. "I could kill you right now. I could rip your fragile little body to pieces and devour it. Rest assured, if I wanted to kill you then that is exactly what I'd be doing."

He moved away from me with a slight frown on his face, dropping his arms at the side of my head. I was free to move now. Not that it would do me any good. He'd probably catch me in a second if I attempted to run away.

"Edward is rubbing off on you." He said this as if it were an especially bad thing. "I must say that it is not very attractive."

"You'd rather me to play the helpless damsel role and let you take advantage of me?" My sarcasm only lifted a slight smile at his mouth. I did not think that he took me very seriously.

"I'd rather you save the bullshit for my twin." He said wryly, arching an eyebrow at me pointedly. "Don't pretend like you've stopped reminiscing about that night."

I had no quick response for that. Of course I thought about what happened between us at that party. It was a constant on my mind. But as soon as I started thinking about that, I remembered what a monster Masen was.

"I need to go to class." I announced, retrieving the rest of the books out of my locker that I would need for this day. I would make sure to have my books already prepared tomorrow. I did not want to run into Masen by chance any longer. Though, I had severe doubts of my ability to successfully avoid him. If he wanted to see me bad enough he would definitely find a way to.

"I don't like to be denied Isabella." This was a warning if I had ever heard one, his eyes sought mines out for some sort of understanding. He was tempting. I would admit that his seductiveness was too much of a match for me. I would succumb if I didn't find a way to resist him, or to stay away from him altogether. I was regretting ever putting myself on the line to protect Mike. "If I want something I am going to get it."

"Edward is coming back tomorrow." I announced lightly, showing my confidence and loyalty in his brother.

"You're sadly mistaken if you think that Edward can keep me away from you." Masen chuckled darkly. "I'll be seeing you very soon Isabella Swan."

He left on that impression, turning down the hallway that was opposite from the one I would be venturing down. I made my way to class slowly and nervously. I tried to shake the unwavering fear out of my bones before I had to enter the room and face all of my classmates.

The game wasn't just between Edward and Masen anymore. Now, Masen was trying to beat me also. I was shaken by the thought because I knew that I had absolutely no idea how to play against someone as lethal as Masen. Either he would kill me, seduce me, or something much worse that might involve the people I cared about.

I could not take the pressure. I was almost on the verge of another breakdown. I would be glad when Edward finally did get back. I would feel more comforted and secure even if he could not protect me.

I was tardy when I walked into the classroom. All eyes turned to look at me with speculation. There was one pair missing, the ones that I had longed to see for confirmation.

All the way in the back corner of the room, Michael Newton's seat was empty...


	13. THE PLAYER

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There was nothing more terrifying than seeing that blank seat in first hour. I did not fool myself into avoiding the worst case scenario. Alice's pretty face had led Mike promptly into his death. It was what all of the clues pointed to. Mike was not here today, Masen looked significantly healthier, and Alice had Mike following her around like a lost puppy yesterday. I could barely stomach to sit through my first class.

"Bella!" I turned to the sound of my name being called. The voice was pleasant this morning and completely unexpected. My eyes were met with violet ones, they were drastically warmer than they had been during our car ride to school. "I have to tell you something."

My pursuer skipped down the hall towards me. I was happy to see that there was friendliness radiating off of her now. I had to wonder what had changed her mood that quickly. Rosalie usually was very stubborn and she could hold a grudge for ages.

"Was is it Rosalie?" I couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm that was on her face. Despite how I felt on the inside, Rosalie was a breath of fresh air. Everything in my life was so jumbled and chaotic now. My friendship with the Hales had always been very simple. "You look like you just won the lottery."

She rolled her eyes playfully, "Guess who has a date with Emmett Cullen tonight?"

The smile on my face practically slid off and plummeted to the ground. I could feel my eyebrows skyrocketing in alarm. That was definitely a red flag. I did not want Rosalie or Jasper getting any closer to the Cullen family than they already were.

"I thought you said that you were going to stay away from them?" I reminded her of this fact that she had been so adamant about. It was a good idea that I had not thought to listen to at first. Now, that idea was the only thing that would save her from getting sucked into a world of horror and danger.

"Yes, I did say that." She admitted sheepishly, still finding the joy to smile brightly. "That was because he was acting like a prick."

"I don't understand." I shook my head in confusion, trying not to let the dread inside of me leak out into my facial expressions. This was quite possibly the worst thing that could be happening.

"Well, we have first hour together now. Somehow he got switched into my class." She explained patiently, completely dropping all of the opinions that she'd made about them before. I hated that Rosalie was so shallow. It was like the Cullen's picked up on people's weaknesses and deliberately used them against them. "We were working in pairs today so he came up and asked me if he could be my partner."

"Then what happened?" I did not know Emmett very well. He was the brother that often fell into the background, but there was no mistaking that he was innocent. Masen was his brother so I could not give him the benefit of the doubt.

"We started talking about senseless things. Eventually, I got tired of bullshitting around so I cut to the chase. I asked him why he wasn't heads-over-heels in love with me like every other boy in this school."

I nodded my head to show her that I was on board. My forced smile indicated that she should continue telling the story.

"He told me that he wasn't very good at opening up to people." I had never thought of Emmett as the introvert type. All of the Cullen's were reclusive in their own ways, so it would seem that they all were averse to opening up with people outside of the family. That was untrue however. They did not open up to people outside of the family because most of those people ended up dead. "I took charge and asked him if he wanted to see a movie tonight."

"He said yeah?" I could not stop myself from being suspicious of Emmett's motives. If he really liked Rosalie he would have continued to stay away from her. He must know that having her around Masen at all was a dangerous notion.

"Yep."

"What time are you guys going?" I asked curiously, looking down at my dingy converse. There were butterflies fluttering inside of my stomach and the queasy sensation made me want to vomit. It made me want to cry and beg Rosalie to cancel her date.

"He is supposed to be picking me up at seven." Rosalie glanced at me wryly, as if she could pick up on the fact that I wasn't as enthused with her news as she had wanted me to be. "I thought you'd be jumping up and down with excitement by now."

"I just don't think that getting involved with Emmett is such a good idea Rosalie." I knew that she was not going to like or care about my opinion. I wished that I could tell her about everything that was going on with Cullen's. I wished that I could save her before she got in too deep.

"But you think it's a good idea for you to be involved with Edward and Masen?" Rosalie frowned at me, but it did nothing to diminish her startling beauty. "You are so ridiculous Bella. At least I'm not fucking two brothers of the same family."

I let her believe whatever she wanted to believe. This was not about me. It was about her. She had absolutely no idea that she was about to walk into a trap that might get her life taken away from her. "There is someone way more suitable for you out there. I don't think Emmett is good enough for you."

"Well, I don't care what you think Bella." Rosalie snapped angrily, swiping the hair away from her face in irritation. "You're becoming such a hypocritical bitch. You're the one who needs to leave Masen and Edward alone."

"I would if I could!" I blurted, unable to control the volume my voice would escalate to, now it was too late to take back what I'd just said and I knew that she'd caught onto the devastation inside of my voice. Rosalie's eyes widened momentarily from my outburst. I hoped that she could see something desperate in my expression, something that might convince her that I was holding her best interest at heart.

"Why can't you?" She wondered, her voice was more quieter and softer now. She looked at me with a curious expression on her face, like she was searching mine for something. I did not know what she thought she would find. I just wished whatever it was, was enough to have her reconsider her decisions.

"That doesn't matter." I said this just as the bell rang. It was time for fourth hour now. "I'll just see you at lunch."

"Alright." She said this unsurely, scrunching her eyebrows as she watched me. Rosalie and I had been friends for years now. She knew when something was bothering me and I had never been good at hiding my emotions. I could not tell her the truth and she seemed to know this because she did not even ask.

We both went our separate ways. She had a class on the second floor and this was my free period. The library was where I usually spent this hour. Today I was going there for a different reason however. I needed to talk to Edward immediately. It felt odd that he was now the person I called upon whenever there was something wrong. It was a natural reaction.

I went towards the back of the library. There weren't many people present during this time of the day. It was always busiest during the lunch periods.

"Shouldn't you be at school Bella?" Edward answered his phone on the third ring, his voice was soft but still incredibly stern.

"I am at school. I'm in the library." I kept my volume minimal, smiling at his patronizing tone. I was sure that we was still upset at me from yesterday's conversation. "I needed to ask you something important."

"What is it?" He asked cautiously. I knew that he probably had the answer to every question I had. He was always evasive with the way he distributed information to me. It was like he didn't want to scare me, or tell me too much. He only explained what he felt like explaining.

"How is your relationship with Emmett?"

Edward took a moment to consider his words. This was something he did often. He was calculated and very good at giving vague answers. "Well, he's my brother."

"Yes, I know that much." His reply had given me nothing. I needed to know if I could trust Emmett not to hurt Rosalie. Edward was the only person who could tell me the truth. "How close are you two?"

I could hear his sigh against the other side of the receiver. He had to be wondering where'd I had pulled this new bought of curiosity from. "The ongoing dispute between Masen and I has caused rifts between the relationships in our family. Emmett and I are not as close as we used to be. No one really likes to get close to anyone else in that house."

"Why not."

"Because when so many people are against each other, being close to one person will only create conflict with another person. Emmett likes to be the neutral ground between us all. He never been the one to takes sides. He is pretty much on an impersonal basis with all of us."

"Should I be worried about the him taking Rosalie on a date?"

"Yes." Edward said instantly, there was nothing but truthfulness inside of his voice. "Everyone who gets close to us gets hurt."

"But he's not luring her into a trap?" I asked, failing to avoid the thought of Alice's unlawful success with Mike. "They killed Mike Newton yesterday."

"That is unfortunate news. I am sorry if you're upset." Edward's passive tone made his words less meaningful. I detected no sympathy there. This was something normal to him. Something that he didn't even give a second thought about. "And I doubt that Emmett is working with Masen. He's just being as selfish and careless as he's always been."

"Are you going to be back soon?" I did not tell him that I missed his presence immensely. I hoped the emotion in my voice said it for me.

"I will be back before you know it."

**...**

Lunch that day was quite possibly the most uncomfortable experience I'd ever been apart of. I had almost decided not to come down from the library because I knew that it was now a routine for the Cullen's to join us at our lunch table, but I also felt that it was not fair for me to leave my friends down there with them.

I took my seat between Jasper and Rosalie, Alice and Masen sat across from us, and Emmett sat more closer to Rosalie at the edge.

There was a layer of tension floating around the table. It only seemed to be evident to the people that it was between. I couldn't look Alice or Masen in their eyes. I kept my gaze trained on the table, but I kept my ears open to the conversation.

"There seems to be a dance coming up next month." The voice was chimes and bliss, belonging to the exact person whose personality contradicted its sweetness. "I believe the theme is dark masquerade."

"How exciting!" Rosalie clasped her hands together in excitement, probably imagining how many heads would be turning at the sight of her in a ball gown. "We need to go shopping for that."

"There is a very nice dress shop in Port Angeles." I hated how friendly Alice was trying to be. Why not just show her true colors?

"Emmett you're taking me to that dance right?" Rosalie smiled up at him charmingly, tilting her head to the side and grazing him with those intense violet eyes. She was the epitome of sexiness.

A crooked smirk spread its way across Emmett's boyish face, his dimples were in full affect. That was something all of his family members had in common. Youthfulness and crooked smiles. They were all beautifully dangerous. I watched Emmett wearily. "Anything you want Rosie."

"Are you going to attend Bella?" Alice's stare was fixed onto my face, gauging my reaction with some sort of dark humor. There was a little arrogance at the corner of her mouth. Her head was cocked in mock-curiosity. "I am sure that it'll be thoroughly thrilling."

My demeanor remained calm with a very fickle amount of self-control. I tried not to frown at her or give into her crude form of amusement. She sat beside Masen triumphantly, looking like the girl version of him. They both were looking at me. This was the most exciting game ever to them.

"I'm not really the dancing type." I said quietly, refusing to speak more about it.

"Ah, come on Bella." Jasper nudged me, flashing his alluring eyes in Alice's direction. I didn't miss the smile that the two of them shared. "You'll miss all of the fun."

"Hey Jazz, you should take Alice." Rosalie prompted, subtlety was definitely not her forte. She was Jasper's wing man. The Hales played mind games with people just as the Cullen's did. My friend's however, were exceptionally more harmless.

"I would actually love to go to the dance with you." Alice announced, nodding her head with enthusiasm. I couldn't tell how much of it was feigned and how much was genuine. She performed her role so flawlessly. It was hard to tell that underneath her soft smiles and giggles, that she was actually a manipulative bitch that had no qualms about killing.

I wanted to speak up but I knew that I had no right to. There was also no point in wasting my breath. If Rosalie had not listened to me before, I knew that Jasper wouldn't listen. When those two were dead-set on something they never changed their minds. It was so petty. These two were so in need of an ego booster that they had to prove to themselves that the Cullen's could not resist them. It was stupid and would get them hurt.

"Well, that's great." Jasper said, taking on the role of a gentlemen with no hidden agenda. I saw something twinkle inside of Alice's green eyes when she smiled. It was menacing. "Because I would love to take you."

There was a very deep, profound feeling inside of my stomach. It was hollow and consuming. It was nauseating and forceful. I felt sick watching my friends invite danger into their lives so willingly. I could definitely empathize with Edward now. It was frustrating trying to keep someone out of danger that would not allow themselves to see the threat.

Lunch ended on an average note. Most of the conversation was conducted between Alice and Rosalie. They were suddenly the best of friends now. There was nothing that I could say really. I knew that it was best to keep my mouth shut. It made me feel like an enabler, but I figured that things would become a lot less complicated when Edward returned. Maybe he'd even talk to Rosalie and Jasper for me.

The Hales walked me to class. It was still our routine even if the vibes circulating amongst us weren't all the way complacent. I was horribly surprised to see Masen already seated in the chair beside my desk.

On the outside he appeared to be the model student. Everything was perfectly in order on his desk, he was not disrupting the classroom with inane chatter, and he had all of his attention focused on the teacher in front of the room. I stopped myself from scoffing at how much work he had to put into his persona.

Upon my entry, Masen's smoldering gaze abruptly shifted from the teacher to my face. He was relentless with his stare. The intensity of those greens followed my trek all of the way from the door until I was able to push past the cluster of students at the door to reach my seat. There was a wicked aura radiating around him. It made some of my anger transition into an evocation of the fear I tried so hard to bury.

I knew that Masen could sense the way I reacted to him. That was what made him thrive. If he wasn't provoking lust, he was trying to provoke some kind of fear within me.

"Good afternoon, Pretty Bella." Masen lifted his smile towards me. My breath caught at the sight of his perfection and that only made his smile widen. "You seemed very aloof at lunch today."

"Fuck you Masen." I said menacingly, but in a volume low enough that Tanya's nosy ears could not hear what I was saying. "I do not have time to play these games with you."

He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, "But games are always fun. You look like you're in need of some fun. I could help you with that."

I did not miss what was behind his words, the hunger that I saw in his expression so often. Sometimes I wondered what he was starving for more. My body or my blood. It didn't make a difference I supposed. He would probably never be satisfied with one without the other.

"I don't need your help." My voice was curt with a purpose. I wanted him to know that he could not toy around with me, but he did not seem to take my sour attitude very seriously. "In fact, I'd appreciate if you just left me and my friends alone."

"I don't recall harming your friends." He liked playing the innocent role. The irony seemed to fill him to the brim with humor. It wasn't as if I was fooled by it any longer. "That would probably ruini any chances that I have with you."

"There is no chance between me and you."

"Why is that Bella?" Something within him noticeably darkened. I could not tell if it was the curling of his lips, or if it was the glittering around his pupils. Whatever it was jolted me."Is your bed reserved for my dear twin?"

"You almost sound jealous." My voice was faint but challenging.

"Yeah, well girls seem to like that." He scoffed at my accusation, there was an amusement evident inside of his voice. "You surely do."

"What makes you assume that you know me so well?" I asked, brisk with irritation. He was infuriating because he was still so fascinating to me.

"You only think that I assume." His gaze shifted towards me, though his hands were still at work on the assignment we'd been given at the start of class. I could hardly concentrate on keeping my breathing even, but it didn't surprise me that Masen could talk with me and still complete the worksheet with barely a glance at it. "But the truth is, I know you better than Edward could ever hope to. I know you better than you know yourself."

I opened my mouth to dispute his claim rather closed-mindedly, but he beat me to the punch. The words that came out of his mouth next chilled me to the core.

"You're an only child. Your parents wed at an early age. They weren't ready for the responsibility of a baby and your very existence obstructed their fickle relationship. They grew apart as you grew older. Your parents would never tell you that they resented you for ruining the love they once shared, but they would express their resentment in more subtle ways."

I could not believe what he was saying. There was a gleam inside of his eyes that dared me to object. I could feel the color leaking out of my face as I stared at him in disbelief.

"Your father never had the interest in solidifying a relationship with you. That is why you are so unaware of your appeal now. The father of a child is supposed to be the very first man who calls her beautiful. He is supposed to make her believe it. He never called you beautiful though, he never hugged you either, or read you princess stories at night. Your mother was a little more affectionate. She at least acknowledged your presence, but you always felt like she was only with you by default. That she longed to be somewhere else. You could see it in her eyes whenever she flashed those fake smiles at you. "

"You don't know what you're saying." I shook my head at him, though the smirk on his mouth told me that my displeasure was not enough to make him stop. He wanted to paint a dark picture before me. He wanted to witness any pain that might be brought to the surface. I was never good at keeping my emotions contained and he liked that.

"You were the only thing that held them together and they hated that fact. They ignored the best of you and you won't admit it but you actually love the attention that you receive from the opposite sex. You're not as vain as your blonde counterparts but your self-gratification is stemmed through the appraisal of the men population. You don't want to be looked at the wrong way so you shield those inhibitions. You put on the persona of an innocent girl who has a tight grip on her virtue."

"I never..." My sentence trailed off when I realized he wasn't quite finished yet. I dreaded to hear what would come out of his mouth. His words were sinking into me like dulled daggers. At the same time, I was desperately interested for him to finish. He did so without any hesitation.

"Really you'd give it away to any person who made you feel good about yourself in the worst type of way. You met my family and I, and you thought that you'd never seen a group of people more striking. It made you feel good to have us show interest in you, though I'm sure you felt that dangerous vibe that naturally emanates off of us. It only did good to thrill you even more. The sexual desires that you have pent up...I am the only one who can fulfill them and you knew that the day I had you writhing in my bed. You didn't know why you were unconsciously afraid of me at first..."

"But now I know." I snapped shakily, wide-eyed and distraught.

"Yes, now you know." He chuckled darkly at the humor he found from my expense. "You know that I can kill you and yet you still want me to do my dirtiest deeds to you. Despite Edward's warnings and your ingrained sense of self-perseverance, you can't stop yourself from wanting me. You want my lips and the teeth behind them to caress your skin. You're afraid of me. And you won't tell Edward, but you'd still risk your life to be with me. Is it because you're searching for gratification, is it because I make you feel secure, or is it simply because you want to feel fire in your veins from my touch?"

I had nothing to say. I was literally stutter-shook. I was still. My head was reeling.

"You're a sick, twisted girl. I've never met anyone remotely like you." The twitch upon his lip was mischievous, his eyebrow arched curiously. "That is why I have so much fun chasing you. Otherwise, I would have ripped out your throat long ago."

I sank back into my chair with a heavy mind and heart. The butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach was coming back. I did not know why. It was something that always happened whenever I was around Masen. My eyes sought his out for understanding.

I could not fathom how he knew those things about me. Those were things that I hadn't even taken the time to ponder myself. Now that he'd thrown it up so abruptly, I could not find it in myself to deny any word that he'd spoken. He was right about it all and that frightened me. It made me realize that he would never stop. It did not matter what I did or said.

He was interested in me. At first, I could not have imagined that to be a bad thing. Now I understood it all. I was Masen's ultimate prey and he was analyzing me in every way he knew how. I would be dead whenever he decided that he wanted me dead. It was just that simple.

That did not mean that the people I cared about needed to be dragged into this. It was my fault that I had engaged with him so carelessly. They did not choose this and I think that was what Masen enjoyed the most. He liked unsuspecting victims and he liked hitting his prey where it hurt.

He absolutely loved the game. There had to be some way to beat him, but it was definitely not by doing all that was in my power to oppose him. That would only induce him to play harder. I knew that if he decided to play any harder I would be dead, The Hales would be dead, and probably even Charlie. I needed to figure out how to beat Masen at his own game.

There was only one person who could help me accomplish that. The person that I should have listened to in the very beginning.

The other brother.


	14. THE LURKER

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**SHORT CHAPTER**

**MASEN POV**

"This game is beginning to become tedious, brother." Alice said this with much conviction. Though I was well aware of just how much fun she secretly had with inflicting turmoil upon Bella. "It is almost too easy to win."

I took a seat beside her on the futon. The school day had already flitted by us and now we were back at home to our vices. Esme and Carlisle were still away at work, Emmett was after school or maybe even busying his time with Isabella's violet-eyed friend, and Edward still had not made his return from the bitter frosts of Alaska.

That was a pity. I missed my brother dearly.

"I still cannot wait to see Isabella when she finds Rosalie and Jasper sprawled across the floor in a pool of blood."

"The Hales had not actually been a part of my plan."

"Food is food remember?" The harshest of frowns wrapped its way around Alice's delicate features, exposing the displeasure that I'd known she would show. "You're an opportunist. You have to take your prey when it is right in front of you."

"I was unaware that you knew more about my eating habits than I did."

The fact of Alice's jealousy amused me. She had no right to envy Bella in that way and she knew that to be true. Her emotions however, were irrational and would tell her differently. She let those barreling feelings consume her, chew her up, and spit her out. She was helplessly and unconsciously controlled by them. That was what fueled her drive.

She was so human. So fragile.

"You're acting very peculiar." Her accusation was hardly plausible. I wasn't acting any differently than I normally did. I felt normal. The same as always. "I don't even think this is about upsetting Edward any longer."

"What do you suppose it is then?" I tilted my head slightly in curiosity.

"It's almost as if you actually care for Isabella." I could hear something inside of her voice that dreaded the possibility of this being true. She waited for me to deny it, perhaps hoping that I would have immediately cut her off and scoffed at the absurdity of it all. I did not do that.

"Is that how you perceive my actions?"

"Yes." She nodded her inky-black head and wayward strands fell into her face. She was hauntingly gorgeous behind the darkness she liked to hide in.

"Well, you are very wrong." I clarified this easily, it was sometimes hard to remember that I was the master at these games. I did whatever I desired to do. I played by my rules. Isabella was just a pawn, and so was Alice, and so was Edward. They were here specifically for my amusement and nothing else. I played them the way I wanted to play them. "I am just having fun with her. I will admit that she is interesting. She keeps me entertained."

"I think that I can entertain you better than she can." Alice's green eyes widened at what she had allowed herself to say. It was too late to take it back now. I had already heard and branded every word into the contours of my memory. There was something about the wavering tone of her voice that told me she knew not of what she spoke of.

"Is that right?" I liked to play along anyway. Perhaps to see how she would respond. "Are you sure about that?"

"Am I not beautiful?" She asked coyly, using the voice of a person who knew just how attractive they were. She smiled softly.

"Alice you are undeniably breath-taking." I looked down at her with the type of darkness I never unleashed when she was around. I could hear her heart take a stutter inside of her chest. "Suited surely for a gentlemen with a cause. Particularly blonde-haired."

Her smile fell at my tease. She did not find me humorous in the slightest. "To hell with Jasper."

"Why not ease his misery? Show him something worthwhile."

"If his intentions were any more shallow..." Alice rolled her green orbs heavenward, glaring at the ceiling with squinted irritation. "I cannot even think of a proper analogy to compare to his simple-mindedness."

"You could have at least used him for your own personal entertainment." I'd seen the way she'd looked at him during lunch. It was not hard to understand that Jasper was seen as remarkably attractive by the opposite sex. Even Alice had noticed him in that way.

"I wish you did not pay attention as much as you did." She murmured, looking at me with everything that was soft. "But I couldn't have engaged with him even if I'd wanted to. He said something about going over his father's house after school."

"And Rosalie is with Emmett?" I was aware of Edward's plan of diversion. Bella was to stay with the Hales until he got back. Since they were both gone I doubted that Bella had taken refuge in their home. She had probably already returned to her own house and she was probably foolishly home alone. "That means that Isabella is lonely."

"You would leave my company to go bask in hers?" Alice questioned angrily, refusing to contain the red irritation that burned within her cheeks.

"My little sister cannot offer me the same company that Isabella can." I proclaimed, as if the thought of Alice envying Bella was not entirely absurd. I found my sister to be extremely endearing but nothing more than that.

"I am counting the days until she is dead." Alice said, shoulders sagging, and speaking between clenched teeth. "Then no more will she look at you like a piece of meat."

"You know that you're all that I've ever known to love." I touched Alice's chin gingerly. It was best to pacify her ego. She was always there for me. it was the least that I could do. I made her look up at me. My eyes were the greenest they'd ever been. The most sincerity that I could muster. "I shall be back before you even recognize that you miss my company."

"Then go." Her voice was soft, above a whisper, but not much louder than that. She still managed to smile. "And hurry back."

**...**

I did not need a car to travel to Bella's house. I could run for miles in the renewed state that I was in, maybe even days if I had the desire to. I did not get tired easily and moved much faster than any human could comprehend. I was wild and free. It was adventurous. It was beautiful.

I found her neighborhood to be asleep. The sun had set hours ago. The children were safely in their homes, tucked in bed without the danger of nighttime lurkers to worry about. The threat was dissipated or so they thought. But just because you were in your house did not mean nightmares could not reach out to you.

I was living proof of that.

I scaled the perimeter of her house. It was not very large. There was a front and back door, four windows in the living room, and two in the kitchen. I could enter through either of the doors but I found that to be too traditional. It would be far too easy. I would not be surprised if there was still a key waiting underneath the welcome mats for me to take a hold of.

I liked to startle Isabella as best as I knew how. Whenever she was flustered, her skin would glow a beautiful crimson. It was her trademark of some sorts. It made her absolutely appetizing.

I decided that I wanted to make my grand entrance through her bedroom window. It was not a hard deed, even though it was located on the second floor. The window was not that far from the ground, a human would not be able to reach it, but all I had to do was jump to reach ledge. I pulled myself up and tried the window. It was not locked as I'd expected. I slid it aside only half-way and silently eased my way through.

Her room was vacant of her presence but I could smell her fragrance swirling around in the air. It was a mouthwatering indicator that she had been here not too long ago. She was somewhere inside of the house, the sound of footsteps were unmistakable on the first floor.

I took a seat in the alcove her window happened to be apart of. Her room was small and tidy. It was the standard room of every teenage girl. Light blue walls, canopy bed, a stereo, a bookcase, and a desk with a lap top. There were no photos of her family hanging on the walls. I wondered what her mother looked like. She must have been quite beautiful to have produced Bella.

I listened carefully as the sound of faint footsteps escalated up the staircase. Bella was returning now. I could hear her humming to herself. It was a tune that I recognized, a slightly off-pitch version of the moonlight sonata. There was a small smile waiting for her when she found her way into the room.

She stopped in her treks in the doorway upon spotting me, there was an evident look of fear on her face. It was not profound however. I found that odd.

"You were expecting me?" I guessed, watching the odd way that she regarded me. She was full of apprehension but nothing else.

"I knew that you'd come." Her voice was quiet when she spoke. "You always pop up whenever I least expect you."

"But not this time?"

"Not this time." She agreed slightly, keeping her eyes trained on mines as she moved away from the door. I followed her trek over to the bed. She sat there rigidly, looking at me as if she were expecting something.

"Then I guess I'll have to do more to surprise you then." I said this challengingly, watching her face contort with intent eyes.

"I don't really like surprises." She replied quietly, watching me through those doe-browns. I suppose that she was just as interested in me as I was in her. Our forms of interest were two very different things however.

A crooked smirk found its way onto my mouth, she never ceased to amuse me. "You don't like surprises, you don't like games, so what do you like?"

Bella looked at me carefully, conjuring her words, before a slight hesitation revealed itself in the quiver of her lip. "The truth."

I felt myself pursing my lips in consideration. Isabella was not a dull girl. She may be a little too influenced by her hormones but that was beside the fact. She was cunning and even more so since she'd been spending time with Edward. She was not however, cunning enough for me. "I've given you all of my truthfulness rather willingly."

"There is so much more to you than I know." She said this as if she actually knew something. She was so hilariously clueless that it kept me three steps ahead of her. "You practically have me figured out to the tee. It's only fair that I get to know about you."

"What do you want to hear?" I wondered reprovingly, it would be rather foolish of her to try to outsmart me. It was something my twin would probably advise her to do. It would only end badly. "Monstrous, apathetic stories that you can run back and tell Edward?"

"I want to hear whatever you want to tell me."

"That's a first." I smirked dully, not all that amused at her attempted evasiveness. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I think that you know I've always been interested." She cooed her voice flirtatiously, I would have appreciated those pouty lips if they weren't so deceitful.

"I hope you know that you are like glass to me Isabella. I see right through you and your feeble intentions." I allowed my face to darken before her eyes, though my voice and my body language remained serene. "There is no way that you can outsmart me. There's nothing for me to reveal that can save your life or Edward's. Still, I would like to humor you."

There was a story that I'd been waiting to tell someone. Isabella seemed exactly the type of person to listen.

"Imagine the day you were born into this world. All was well with you. Your parents were happy and you were miraculously healthy even after the stipulations that occurred while you were still within the womb. You were to be one, big happy family. That is how it is always expected to happen right?"

She said nothing but gave me a nod to continue. Her brows were furrowed in interest. She was looking at me as if she did not expect these words to be flowing from out of me.

"Well, this time the story did not quite skip to a happy ending. It doesn't start until about three weeks after you're born. Your mother is trying unsuccessfully to breastfeed you again. Only, the milk from her breast is not what you are hungry for. You cry yourself into exhaustion because of a hunger your parents know nothing about. Imagine your father's horror when he receives a call from the people who created you. The only way the baby will live is if it is given meat and flesh to consume."

"You are an abomination but your parents love you too much to kill you. Growing up is not difficult. You have siblings that stand by your side. They know just as little about you as you know about yourself. It's just an evident household fact that you are special and must be protected. As you get older you realize just how unlike everyone else you actually are. You can hear things from miles away, in octaves that reach your ears as if you were standing right next to it. You can see through complete darkness. Vision is always crystal clear. Right down to the dust particles that loiter in the air. You have the nose of a canine, sense of smell so superb that you can feel the aromas wracking through your body."

I kept my eyes trained on hers, watching how every other word widened her pupils and paled her face. She was afraid now. That was a reasonable reaction.

"Not to mention that you are faster and stronger than anything there ever was. You're a demon. Not a boy."

I looked past Isabella, only to meet my own reflection in the mirror that hung at her bed side. I was hauntingly intrigued with the gleam in my eye. It was rare that I acknowledged the term sadness.

"Imagine being around other people. Normal people. This is the best part. Being around them and being able to smell their scent. The scent... No, to call it scent doesn't do it justice. It is hard to explain to people who aren't like you. But, you suppose the best way you could explain it is that you felt it. The shape of their flesh and blood, the texture of it, the consistency, the taste, the movement of life in their veins all manifesting itself in a single smell; a fragrance? No, that sounds too much like "perfume", false, contrived, chemical. A flavor? Yes, a flavor. A flavor so strong that ignited your entire body into a frenzy of unhinged flames."

"The only way to cool the pain, the only way to live..." My gaze cut back to hers, back to the frightened expression that branded itself to her so easily. She did not know of this life. She did not understand it. "Is to take the lives of others. It's something to be accepted and embraced, but sometimes you still can't help but to ponder if this world is too small for you. Is it where you really belong?"

An expected silence fell in between us. It was not necessarily uncomfortable but it was definitely far more extended than it was needed to be. We both looked at each other, both wearing the same expressions of curiosity. I wondered if she was ever going to speak.

"I just..." Her voice was faint, even though it was utterly and completely silent in the room. She looked up at me through thick eyelashes. "I don't really know what to say."

"Then don't say anything." I advised indifferently, my talk had not been one to open up to her. We were not friends that told each other secrets. My motive had been to show her just how different I was from her. She was outmatched compared to me. If she opposed, there was no way that she could end up on top.

I could not deny though, that I felt some type of relief. Edward and Alice were the only other people I had ever confided in so personally. They were related to me however so it made the notion less satisfying.

She shook her brunette head, as if to shake her disbelief away. "I keep getting myself confused."

"About what?" I queried, taking a chance to glance outside of the window that was beside me. It was nothing but darkness out there, and there was nothing but light in here. It was a stark contrast.

"Sometimes I believe Edward wholeheartedly. I think that you're a monster." That made me chuckle to myself. I was far worse than any monster Bella's imagination could ever conjure up. I would not tell her that. "Then I start talking to you and then I think maybe you're just misunderstood."

"Be wise about who you choose to believe." She was a foolish girl, so fickle and gullible. Her lack of survival skills was what intrigued me so much.

"I know that you can kill me. All of the power rests between your fingers." She tilted her head to the side, dark hair spilled across her face. She was lovely. I could not see why Edward thought her to be average. His eyes did not see anything but the one he'd lost. I smiled at that thought. "I'm just wondering what it is you're waiting for exactly."

"For you to run." It was like her instincts were wired backwards. Instead of leading her away from danger, it pushed her into the arms of it. Isabella could not deny that she was thrilled by it. "You never react how I want you to."

"I'm afraid of you." She admitted this as if I hadn't already known.

"You should be." I nodded my head, that was another reasonable reaction out of her. "I'm dangerous."

"I know you are. That is why I try to get out of the habit of playing these games with you."

"But you always walk into them so freely." I looked at her wryly. "It's almost as if you think you can beat me. Is Edward putting thoughts like that into your head?"

"No, Edward actually admitted that there was no beating you."

"At least he knows the truth." Edward was ever the cocky one. He wanted me dead. That was his only solution to defeating me. He had to know that killing me was not a possibility. I wondered if Bella knew it as well. "Do you know the truth Isabella?"

"I think I do now." There was sincerity inside of her words, but something also told me that she was hiding something from me. If that was the truth, I would find out what it was sooner or later. For now she seemed complacent enough.

I liked how it was so easy to sway Bella to my side. It was like she listened to whichever twin had the best story at the moment. When Edward came back he would make her want to stay away from me again, and then I would swoop in and seductively change her mind. It was fun seeing who was the best manipulator.

That was what I meant when I said that there was no good twin between Edward and I. We were both playing the same game, for the same reasons, and in the same way.

Whenever Isabella chose a side for good that would be the end.

We would have our winner and either way it would be me.

* * *

><p><strong>MASEN'S <strong>**AUTHOR NOTE:**

**I kind of wanted to address Masen as a topic. The character I made him out to be is a cold, heartless, greedy, manipulative killing machine.**

**But what if there actually was a conscience on the inside? What if he knew that what he had to do to survive was wrong?**

**Would that only make him more evil since he knows its wrong, but he still does it because he values his existence over everyone elses?**

**I don't know guys. I'm trying to make him complex. Am I doing a good job with that?**


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